Bank Unions Announce Series of Nationwide Strikes Over Five Day Week and Incentive Scheme

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has announced a series of nationwide strikes beginning September 11, 2026, to demand the implementation of a five day banking week and the withdrawal of a revised Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. The planned protests include a one day strike on September 11, a three day strike from September 28 to 30, and a potential indefinite strike starting October 26 if demands are not met. The UFBU represents seven unions across public sector, private, foreign, regional rural, and cooperative banks. Regarding the five day week, unions state that banks agreed in principle to the move in 2015 and formalized it in a March 2024 wage settlement, which would involve employees working an additional 40 minutes daily from Monday to Friday. They claim the proposal has been pending with the Finance Ministry for over two years. The PLI scheme is another primary point of contention. Unions argue that the government unilaterally introduced a revised formula in November 2024 that creates a disparity between senior officers and other staff. According to the unions, officers from Scale IV and above could receive incentives up to 365 days of basic pay based on individual performance, while workmen and officers up to Scale III are limited to a maximum of 15 days. The center left source frames the government's actions as taking a negative attitude and being discriminatory. The center right source provides more technical context, noting that the dispute over the PLI scheme was previously taken to the Delhi High Court and that the revised formula affects approximately 5 percent of the industry's workforce.