Bank Unions Confirmed its Two Days Nationwide Bank Strike
On Thursday, March 13, the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) confirmed its two-day nationwide bank strike on March 24 and 25. Bank branches will remain closed. The UFBU said that the talks between key leaders of the staff union and the Indian Banks’ Association (UFBU) did not yield any positive results.
This bank strike will directly impact the banking services across the country, especially those relying on physical banking operations like withdrawing cash, completing necessary transactions, and utilizing digital banking services.
Why Is There a Two Days Nationwide Bank Strike?
The United Forum of Bank Unions said that Indian bank employees have been pushing for a five-day workweek. Bank employees are demanding more employment across all levels to maintain efficiency due to workload. This also included filling up the workmen and officer director posts in public sector banks. The UFBU said that extravagant government interference in public sector banks can reduce their autonomy which directly impacts decision-making processes.
The UFBU said that many issues including recruitment of all categories and five-day work week were included in the meeting of UFBU members, but all issues remain unresolved. The discussion with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) on these key demands failed.
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National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE) General Secretary L Chandrasekhar said, all issues have been raised but still the key issues remained unresolved such as recruitment in all cadres and a five-day workweek. Hence, the UFBU announced the strike to press for these demands. The UFBU is known as an umbrella body of nine bank employees’ associations.
Employees of all public sector banks will be involved in the strike so most bank branches will remain closed on March 24-25. ATMs will remain operational. Maybe some ATMs run out of cash due to the lack of bank staff replenishing cash. While all digital transactions and other mobile banking services will continue to function normally.
To avoid inconvenience at the time of the bank strike, you need to make sure to withdraw sufficient funds before March 22, 2025, and complete all your banking transactions before 22 March. However, most public sector banks and some private banks will be affected but banks like HDFC, ICICI, and Axis Bank may continue to operate.
