Bank Strike: Banks announced a strike, work will not be done for 4 consecutive days
Bank employees' unions are threatening a nationwide strike on January 27th. They are demanding a five-day week. Due to upcoming holidays, this strike could close public sector banks for four consecutive days. The unions say they are willing to accept longer working hours as compensation. Many other institutions already operate on a five-day week system.
If you're planning to complete any banking work in the last week of January, consider completing it in the second or third week. Otherwise, you may have to wait until next month. Banks have announced a strike.
While the strike will be for one day, work will be disrupted for three days. This is because banks are also on three consecutive holidays before the strike.
Consequently, work could be disrupted for four consecutive days, which could cause problems for ordinary people in completing their banking work. Let us also tell you on which date the banks have announced the strike and what their demands are.
Banks will remain closed for four consecutive days
Bank employee unions under the aegis of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) have threatened a nationwide strike on January 27th to demand the implementation of a five-day working week.
If the strike occurs, it will significantly impact the operations of public sector banks for four consecutive days. The fourth Saturday holiday is on the 24th, followed by Sunday on the 25th, and Republic Day on Monday, January 26th.
Therefore, banks will be closed for three consecutive days before the strike. If the strike occurs on the 27th, banking operations will be disrupted for the fourth consecutive day.
What is the demand of banks?
Currently, bank employees get holidays on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, in addition to Sundays. The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and the UFBU agreed to declare the remaining two Saturdays as holidays during the wage revision agreement in March 2024.
The UFBU said in a statement that it is unfortunate that the government is ignoring our genuine demand. The agreed-upon 40 minutes extra per day from Monday to Friday will not result in any reduction in working hours.
Why is this demand being made?
The statement noted that the RBI, LIC, GIC, etc. already operate on a five-day work week, and the foreign exchange market, currency markets, and stock exchanges are closed on Saturdays.
Furthermore, central and state government offices are also closed on Saturdays. Therefore, there is no reason for banks not to implement a five-day work week, the statement said.
UFBU is an organization of 9 banks.
The statement further said that it has been decided to call an all-India strike in all banks on January 27, 2026. UFBU is an umbrella organisation of nine major bank unions in India, representing employees and officers of public sector banks and some older private banks.
The statement further said that the union's social media campaign #5DayBankingNow has received 18,80,027 impressions and around 2,85,200 posts on X.
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