Historic Strike by 8 Lakh Bank Employees on 27.01.26 – Wake-up Call to the Government

On 27th January 2026, bank employees and officers under the banner of the UNITED FORUM OF BANK UNIONS (UFBU), consisting of 4 officers’ associations and 5 workmen unions, participated in a day’s strike all over the country for a single demand: “IMPLEMENT THE BIPARTITE AGREEMENT AGREEING TO PERMIT BANKS TO IMPLEMENT FIVE-DAY WEEK SIGNED TWO YEARS BACK.”

The 12th Bipartite Agreement was signed on 8th March 2024. The MOU was signed on 7th December 2023 itself.

The agreement had the following clause:

In terms of understanding dated 7th December 2023, reached between IBA and Workmen Unions for declaration of all Saturdays as holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act for the banking industry, IBA has accordingly recommended to the Government. The due changes in the working hours will be effective after approval by the Government of India and necessary clearances from the Government/Reserve Bank of India.

The UFBU had also agreed to extend the working hours by 40 minutes every day in lieu of a five-day week.

Two alternate Saturdays were declared as holidays in the 10th Bipartite Settlement signed on 5th May 2015. Within six months, the clearance from the Government and RBI was received and the agreement was implemented.

Though these agreements are called Bipartite Agreements, they are tripartite because they are cleared by the Finance Ministry word by word. Ten years back, on 5th May 2015, Mrs. Arundhati Bhattacharya, then Chairman, SBI, and Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Iyer, MD, BOI, assured the negotiating team, after talking to the then Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, that if the two Saturdays off worked well, it would be extended to all Saturdays off.

The difference between 2015 and 2023 is that the then NDA government had some respect for law; the then Finance Minister knew law and had freedom to decide. Then the NDA government was less arrogant. Today, we have a helpless FM, as every decision is taken by one man who is becoming more and more arrogant day by day. He stands by a few corporates, CII and FICCI, who oppose a five-day week.

The BJP has cheated the bankers by signing an agreement before the Lok Sabha elections and not implementing it even after one year of the elections.

The bankers, who were lauded for their sacrifices during illegal demonetisation, which was forced on them, who sacrificed their life and health during COVID, who gave a Guinness record for opening Jan Dhan accounts to the government, who provide the MUDRA loans, who implement all government schemes, are cheated when they demand work-life balance.

Violating a bipartite settlement is illegal, but this government has no respect for law. It has not appointed employee directors in banks for 11 years, and the case is lingering on in the Delhi High Court.

This strike is a wake-up call. UFBU has declared further strikes in spite of intimidation by the Finance Ministry.

Let us analyse the demand:

The demand for a 5-day week in the banking sector is a priority. It is based on scientific practices all over the globe, considering the health of employees, productivity, and environmental concerns. We put forward the following, which explains and justifies the need. The ILO has passed many conventions on this issue, some of which are reproduced below:

Article 19

C047 – Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935 (No. 47)

Convention concerning the Reduction of Hours of Work to Forty a Week
(Entry into force: 23 Jun 1957)
Adoption: Geneva, 19th ILC Session (22 Jun 1935)
Status: Instrument with interim status (Technical Convention)

Preamble

The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation, having met at Geneva in its Nineteenth Session on 4 June 1935, considering that the question of the reduction of hours of work is the sixth item on the agenda of the Session; considering that unemployment has become so widespread and long continued that there are at the present time many millions of workers throughout the world suffering hardship and privation for which they are not themselves responsible and from which they are justly entitled to be relieved; considering that it is desirable that workers should, as far as practicable, be enabled to share in the benefits of the rapid technical progress which is a characteristic of modern industry; and considering that, in pursuance of the Resolutions adopted by the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Sessions of the International Labour Conference, it is necessary that a continuous effort should be made to reduce hours of work in all forms of employment to such extent as is possible; adopts this twenty-second day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-five the following Convention, which may be cited as the Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935:

Article 1

Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention declares its approval of—

(a) the principle of a forty-hour week applied in such a manner that the standard of living is not reduced in consequence; and
(b) the taking or facilitating of such measures as may be judged appropriate to secure this end;

and undertakes to apply this principle to classes of employment in accordance with the detailed provisions to be prescribed by such separate Conventions as are ratified by that Member.

Article 8

How is Work During the Weekend Regulated?**

ILO Weekly Rest Conventions No. 14 (1921) and No. 106 (1957) require that each worker have at least 24 hours of uninterrupted rest every seven days. Whenever possible, the rest day(s) should be simultaneous for all employees of an undertaking and correspond with the traditions and customs of the country. As noted above, Arab countries often choose Friday, instead of Sunday, as the rest day of the week. In China and Hungary, two days off are laid down in national laws. In European Union (EU) Member States, the EU Working Time Directive (93/104) entitles workers to a minimum of 24 hours of rest per week, principally on Sunday, in addition to 11 hours of rest each working day (between shifts). In most countries, although only one day off per week is prescribed in national legislation, collective agreements or commonly accepted norms set the standard of a five-day week.

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Following Are the Benefits of a 5-Day Work Week:

Reduced fuel costs: Employees would have to endure the dreaded commute one less day each week, thereby saving money at the pump with reduced fuel consumption.

Decreased absenteeism: On a six-day schedule, employees are forced to cram their one day off with personal errands, chores, games, and social outings. By the time Monday comes around, there hasn’t been a minute of rest and employees are tired. So they call out of work. This wouldn’t happen so frequently if employees had a second day to accomplish the work they have to do outside the office.

Increased productivity: It’s a well-established principle of productivity that workers become less efficient where no deadline looms. That’s why we’re more efficient in the week before vacation—we know we have to get it done by the time we leave. The same idea is transferable to a shortened workweek. Employees are least productive on Saturdays, so why not just eliminate them altogether?

Improved job satisfaction and morale: Satisfaction with what goes on in the workplace may be tied to what goes on outside of the workplace. Employees who spend more time with family and friends, who have the flexibility of two days off, will return to work refreshed.

Reduced personnel turnover: Not surprisingly, #4 leads to #5. Happier employees tend to leave less often. If they like the job, they’re more likely to stick around.

Reduced energy costs: By closing for two, instead of one, day each week, banks stand to reduce substantial energy costs. These costs can be significant.

Reduced traffic congestion: This potential effect may be seen largely on Saturday, which is the day most employers are converting to a non-working day.

Reduces Stress: Today, our officers’ stress is a real phenomenon, and it is directly associated with their job satisfaction level and the resultant output for the bank. Some important factors associated with their stress are excess workload, the prevalent working condition, role conflict, role ambiguity, virtual absence of weekly off, and relationship with superiors, which ultimately results in a lack of sense of belongingness in the bank. This lack of belongingness towards the organization directly affects the productivity of the officers, which in turn adversely affects the bank’s bottom line.

Managing Work-Life Balance: Managing work-life balance is a challenge for both employers and employees, particularly in the service industry, where employees are loaded with work at the workplace and at the same time have to balance their personal life. Work life and personal life are two sides of the same coin. Creating and managing a balance between work and personal life is considered to be a work-life balance issue. Increasing work pressure, globalization, and technological advancement have an impact on balancing professional life and personal life.

Greenhaus et al. (2003) operationalised the concept of work-family balance as comprising three components. These are:

Time balance, whereby equal amounts of time are devoted to work and family;

Involvement balance, whereby an equal level of psychological involvement in work and family roles exists; and

Satisfaction balance, whereby an equal level of satisfaction is derived from work and family roles.

The best work-life balance is different for each of us because we all have different priorities and different lives. A good working definition of Work-Life Balance is:

Meaningful daily achievement and enjoyment in each of the four life quadrants:
“Family, Friends, Self, and Work.”

Work–life balance is a concept which includes proper prioritizing between “work (career and ambition)” and “lifestyle” (health, pleasure, leisure, family, and spiritual development/meditation). Work-life balance does not mean that there must be equal balance across all aspects of an individual’s life. The best work-life balance will be different for each person. There is no one-size-fits-all in work-life balance.

All over the world, organizations are demanding more and more from their employees; parallel to this, they are focusing more on the motivation and recognition of employees to enhance productivity. The present workforce consists of many working fathers and mothers, whose aim to find a balance between work and family roles is a matter of concern for them and their organizations.

The First Company to Give a 5-Day Week:

So, who gave us the 5-day, 8-hours-per-day work week? Was it really the unions? Was it really higher regulations? No, the historical answer is that it was Henry Ford who gave us the 5-day, 8-hours-per-day work week. Ford was tired of continuously losing good employees. He was trying to increase employee retention and, at the same time, increase profits. So, he basically doubled wages and implemented a 5-day work week, and in the process effectively invented the modern weekend. It is Henry Ford who is widely credited with contributing to the creation of a middle class in the United States.

In addition, if you look at why Henry Ford did this, you will see that his reasons had nothing to do with charity and everything to do with increasing profits and dealing with the forces of competition.

In 1926, Henry Ford began shutting down his automotive factories for all of Saturday and Sunday. In 1929, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America was the first union to demand a five-day work week and receive it. After that, the rest of the United States slowly followed, but it was not until 1940 that the two-day weekend began nationwide.

Actual work week lengths have been falling in the developed world. Every reduction in the length of the work week has been accompanied by an increase in real per-capita income.

In the United States, the work week length reduced slowly from before the Civil War to the turn of the 20th century. A rapid reduction took place from 1900 to 1920, especially between 1913 and 1919, when weekly hours fell by about eight percent. In 1926, Henry Ford standardized on a five-day workweek instead of the prevalent six days, without reducing employees’ pay. Hours worked stabilized at about 49 per week during the 1920s and, during the Great Depression, fell below 40. During the Depression, President Herbert Hoover called for a reduction in work hours in lieu of layoffs. Later, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which established a five-day, 40-hour workweek for many workers. The proportion of people working very long weeks has since risen, and the full-time employment of women has increased dramatically.

The New Economics Foundation has recommended moving to a 21-hour standard work week to address problems with unemployment, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities, overworking, family care, and the general lack of free time. The Center for Economic and Policy Research states that reducing the length of the work week would slow climate change and have other environmental benefits.

Legal Entitlements

“Article 42 of the Constitution directs the State to make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work (at workplaces). Article 43 of the Constitution directs the State to secure conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural opportunities by making suitable legislation or in any other way. Thus, the State is under an obligation to make it possible for employees to work in genuine and humane conditions of work.”

Upholding the spirit of Article 12 of the Constitution, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has also passed a number of decisions that Public Corporations and Undertakings fall within the inclusive definition of “State”.

Now, let us look at some legal rights. The Factories Act provides provisions on weekly rest. Workers are generally entitled to at least 24 hours of weekly rest on the first day of the week, i.e., Sunday. The weekly rest period is reckoned as paid time. Workers may be required to work on a weekly holiday; in this case, he/she is entitled to a substitute holiday three days before or after the usual weekly holiday. Even in the case of holiday substitution, workers must be given a weekly holiday every 10 days. If an organization is exempted from the provision related to weekly holidays and workers are not granted their weekly holidays, an equal number of compensatory holidays have to be granted within two months. The Weekly Holidays Act, Shops and Establishments Act, etc., also state in the same tune for workers and employees.

Although Bank Officers do not come under the purview of the regulations and Acts which make weekly off compulsory, such as the Factories Act, Weekly Holidays Act, Shops and Establishments Act, etc., the Articles enshrined in Human Rights are applicable to one and all. Article 24 of Human Rights deals with the Right to Rest for each and every human being. They are commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights “to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being,” and which are “inherent in all human beings” regardless of their nation, location, language, religion, ethnic origin, employment agreement, service rule, or any other status. They are applicable everywhere and at all times in the sense of being universal and egalitarian, and in the sense of being the same for everyone.

Around the World

In almost all countries, socialist, capitalist, or social democracies, the five-day week is practiced. Work-life balance is a priority.

There are already companies which are trying four-day work with three days off in other countries, and billionaires like Carl Simon and Richard Branson have suggested a three-day working week. Many studies have proved that productivity increases if employees/officers are provided with a two-day weekly off. J. M. Keynes had projected that with the advancement of technology, we will have a 15-hour week by 2030. Jack Ma of Alibaba has already suggested a four-day week.

While we all have major travel goals, fulfilling them is not that easy given the working-hours routine. But in Belgium, leaving your job to travel the world is an employee’s right. For the best part, the employee will not only be paid his full salary while on a career break, but will also get a confirmation from the employer that he will be taken back on the job. It sounds too good to be true, but it really exists.

Portugal is considered to be employees’ heaven. Employers in Portugal cannot dismiss their employees, as there is no termination period in the country’s employment law. Further, if an employer does not want to retain an employee, he needs to offer a decent resignation package, beg the employee to leave, and hope that the employee will not make a fuss about it.

A proposed bill in the French National Assembly gives employees the right to disconnect and limit the use of digital tools as a way to ensure rest periods and vacations, as well as respect time spent on a life outside of work, which includes family. This proposed law is designed to protect employees’ health and well-being and empower them with the right to be away from work-related emails or messages for at least 11 hours a day.

In our bank, on holidays, even if the officers do not need to attend the office, they have to remain connected with their bosses through WhatsApp, and failing to do that earns abuses for the officers, which is very culpable.

The possible best work law ever could be found in Austria; after working for six months, every employee is entitled to an annual paid vacation amounting to 30 working days.

In a bid to take employee-friendly laws to another level, the UAE has taken the initiative to introduce a ‘reading break’ law. This allows employees to catch up with their reading for a couple of hours during working hours.

In our organization, there is no scope for self-development and knowledge development, since the officers have to toil every day for more than 10 hours on an average.

More interestingly, the European Court of Justice has recently ruled that “Travelling to the workplace is also work.” The law came into being not only to protect the health and safety of employees, but also to protect them from being exploited by their employers. The rule reinstates that no employee should be forced to work for more than 48 hours a week.

In Our Country:

In the light of the revolutionary changes that have taken place with regard to technological initiatives, such as tele-banking, Internet banking, core banking, anytime banking, and anywhere banking, and also the banking expansion through a large ATM network, there is a strong case for immediate consideration of the demand for the introduction of a five-day week.

This will also reduce global warming to an extent. Further, a five-day week will provide good health to bank employees and reduce expenditure on electricity and fuel.

In our country, all Central Government establishments, RBI, Forex Department, Parliament, State Assemblies, Treasury, and IT/BT industries observe a five-day week. All IT companies spearheaded by Infosys and WIPRO adhere to a five-day week. Foreign banks in India also follow a five-day week. The majority of State Government offices remain closed on the second Saturday of the month. The West Bengal Government follows a five-day week.

Therefore, the banking industry switching over to a five-day week will not make much difference to routine business; rather, it will increase productivity, reduce expenditure, and give employee satisfaction.

So, there is total justification for a five-day week to be introduced in the banking industry, following the footsteps of RBI, which has defined eight hours of work, a five-day week, and flexible working hours.

This strike is a wake-up call to the Government, and the Government should act immediately.