Agartala, September 11:
Bank employees affiliated with the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) observed a one-day nationwide strike on Friday, pressing for implementation of a five-day banking week, resolution of issues relating to the Performance-Linked Incentive (PLI) and mass recruitment to address staff shortages.
In Agartala, bank employees and officials were seen staging demonstrations and raising slogans outside branches, including the State Bank of India, as part of the strike-related protest.
Sanjay Dutta, State Secretary of the Indian Bank Officers Confederation and Convenor of the UFBU Tripura, said implementation of a five-day banking week remained the union’s “mainstream demand”, which had been pursued with the Government of India for the past 10 years.
Dutta said an agreement was signed between the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the UFBU leadership in March 2024, under which the IBA had agreed to implement a five-day working week in the banking industry. However, he said the agreement was yet to receive approval from the Government of India.
He also raised the issue of what he described as discriminatory treatment in payment of the Performance-Linked Incentive (PLI).
According to Dutta, under the negotiated arrangement, bank employees and officers were to receive PLI equivalent to 15 days of basic pay, depending on the profitability of their respective banks. He alleged that while employees from the messenger category up to Scale III were receiving the 15-day PLI this year, officers from Scale IV to Scale VII had been denied the benefit.
The unions are also demanding mass recruitment in the banking sector, citing a shortage of staff and officers, Dutta said.
He said the one-day strike and demonstrations were being held across the country to press the demands. If the government did not approve the five-day banking week, the unions would observe a three-day strike on September 28, 29 and 30, he said.
“If the government is still not agreeable and does not approve the five-day week, then we will go for indefinite strike from October 26,” Dutta said.
The strike is part of the UFBU’s nationwide programme over its demands relating to working days, Performance-Linked Incentive and recruitment in the banking sector.
