The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has finally set two days of strike on March 24 and 25. This action was taken after the union failed to reach an agreement with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) on several demands made by the union. Some of the important issues include the following: There is a need for proper recruitment for all categories of employees, formalization of work for temporary employees, and implementation of a five-day working week in the banking sector.
Some of the other demands raised by the UFBU include the need to fill the workmen and officer director positions in public sector banks. Also, the UFBU wants changes to the Gratuity Act, particularly the increase of the ceiling to ₹25 lakh, to be in sync with the government employees’ schemes. The union has also called for tax exemptions on gratuity and has expressed its dissatisfaction with the recent directives issued by the Department of Financial Services regarding the performance reviews and the performance-linked incentives, which, it says, pose a threat to job security and the bank board’s autonomy of public sector banks.
The UFBU is the collective of major bank unions, including the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), and the All India Bank Officers’ Association. These unions, in turn, continue to object to what they term as micro-management’ of public sector banks by the DFS, which they claim erodes the day-to-day management of bank boards.
The strike is going to affect public sector banks across the country; employees are going to participate in this protest to express their worries about their job, bank sovereignty, and working conditions. The UFBU asks the government and the banking sector to consider their demands and find a solution to them as soon as possible.
