With 24 and 25 March being a Monday and Tuesday, respectively, banks may be closed for four consecutive days, including the weekend, if the planned nationwide strike by employees belonging to nine unions takes place on these two days.
Under the aegis of the National Confederation of Bank Employees, bank staff are reportedly preparing to go on a two-day strike to draw attention to their demand for a five-day workweek. The employees are also worried about the shortage of staff, which they feel has not been addressed by the government. Many vacancies across banks in the country remain unfilled, which has increased the burden of work for the existing employees whose workloads have increased manifold.
The striking employees also seek lesser intervention of the government in matters related to banks and their functioning.
Employees who participate in the two-day strike would have to accept a pay cut for two days.
The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella group of the nine unions, had announced in early February that it planned for a protest that would begin with demonstrations at district headquarters across India in the second week of February. The unions have been demanding regularisation of temporary employees for some time now. They also want the directives pertaining to performance reviews and performance-linked incentives (PLI) to be withdrawn.
