NEW DELHI, Sept 23: In view of the proposed nationwide bank strike by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) from September 28 to 30, the government on Wednesday announced that all Public Sector Banks and Regional Rural Banks will operate normally on Sunday giving the bank customers one extra day to complete urgent transactions.
The three-day strike would otherwise stretch to five days as banks are already closed on September 26 (fourth Saturday) and 27 (Sunday) and the government’s order was to avoid such a scenario, the Finance Ministry has said in a release.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the operation of bank branches, offices, ATM-linked branches and currency chests on that day. Customers can therefore use Sunday to complete essential banking work ahead of the proposed strike.
“The welfare and convenience of bank customers remains the government’s foremost priority. The government and bank managements have appealed to unions to defer the proposed strike, and have also taken measures to ensure that essential banking services continue uninterrupted,” the ministry said in the release.
The strike call has been given by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), which claims to represent 90 per cent of the banking workforce. The organisation is primarily seeking five-day banking among other demands. A conciliation meeting was held between UFBU representatives and the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner on Tuesday, but it remained inconclusive.
“Responding to the appeal made by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), Bank managements to defer the strike, we informed them that if there is any concrete and positive development towards implementation of our demand for introduction of 5 days banking, UFBU will consider the same,” UFBU said in a statement after the meeting.
UFBU’s other demands include an update and improvement of pension, a uniform dearness allowance formula for all pensioners and an option for employees covered under the National Pension System (NPS) to switch to the old pension scheme (OPS).
Many public sector banks have issued advisories to their customers to use digital channels such as Mobile Banking, ATM, Internet Banking, BC Point and UPI for banking needs during the period of the strike. The proposed strike period also coincides with the half-yearly closing of banks on September 30, a date of particular significance for reconciliation, provisioning and treasury and market operations.
(Manas Dasgupta)