Ahmedabad: Banking services across Gujarat are likely to be disrupted on Jan 27, following an all-India strike call by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body representing nine major unions of bank employees and officers. The strike will see participation from around 8 lakh employees and officers working in public sector banks, private banks, foreign banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks. Of these, an estimated 85,000 will be from Gujarat.With this, banks will remain shut for four days straight from Jan 24 to 27. The unions have sought govt approval for the implementation of a five-day working week in the banking sector, with all Saturdays declared holidays. Currently, only the second and fourth Saturdays are non-working days.
The demand, UFBU said, was already recommended by the Indian Banks Association (IBA) under a memorandum of understanding signed on Dec 7, 2023, and reiterated in the settlement and joint note dated March 8, 2024. “In 2023, it was agreed that daily working hours from Monday to Friday would be increased by 40 minutes in exchange for declaring the remaining Saturdays as holidays. However, formal approval was not granted for over two years,” according to a senior UFBU official. The unions noted that institutions such as the RBI, LIC, GIC, stock exchanges and govt offices already follow a five-day work week. With digital banking options widely available, UFBU said customers would not face major inconvenience.
