Bank unions say Govt taking serious note on accepting demand for five-day work week

Bank unions’ demand for a five-day banking per week is now receiving serious attention from the government, including at the level of the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.This was conveyed by a senior official from the Department of Financial Services (DFS) in the Finance Ministry during a recent conciliation meeting between UFBU and IBA chaired by the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) in the capital.

This is significant as for the last one year, the issue of five day banking week has been pending without any progress. “It (five days banking week) was one of the major issues that has led us to defer the strike. There is progress . We are positive and hopeful that matter will move further. We will give a fair trial for two months. I don’t think we will require another strike call. Government has understood our concerns”, C H Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) told businessline.

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), a representative body of nine bank unions, have decided to defer the strike call given for March 24-25 after the IBA and CLC assured their demands will be given due consideration. In all, UFBU had raised 13 issues in the strike notice. During the Friday’s (21Mar ’25) conciliation meeting, the CLC  K Shekar assured union representatives that he would monitor the issue of five-day banking week with both the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the DFS. He emphasised that the demand for a five-day work week should be considered as the matter has already been agreed upon by the IBA and the Unions in the 12th Bipartite Settlement / 9th Joint Note. 

This commitment from the labour authorities has raised fresh hopes among bank employees, who have been pressing for this reform for a long time.

With the issue now gaining traction at the highest levels of the government, bank unions are optimistic about a favorable resolution. They believe that a five-day work week would improve employee well-being while maintaining customer service efficiency through digital banking and extended working hours on operational days.

The IBA and DFS are expected to deliberate further on the proposal, and a final decision could be on the horizon. Bank employees across the country are now watching closely as discussions progress, hoping for a long-awaited shift towards a better work-life balance, said banking industry insiders. Meanwhile, on the issue of filling up of posts of workmen/officers employee directors in Public Sector Banks (PSBs), the representative from DFS informed the conciliatory meeting that 14 names have already been sent for consideration and approval by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). The remaining cases are under correspondence and examination, the DFS representative said. There is now vacancies for 24 directors —12 workmen and 12 officer-directors.

UFBU has been urging the government to fill the vacancies of workmen/officers directors. All the 12 posts of Workmen employee director and 12 posts of officer employee director have remained vacant for the past ten years.