Banking services across the country are likely to be disrupted on January 27, 2026, as the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has called for a nationwide strike to press for the implementation of a five-day workweek in the banking sector.
The UFBU, an umbrella body of nine bank employees’ and officers’ unions, said around eight lakh employees and officers working in public sector banks, private banks, foreign banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks will participate in the strike.
The constituent unions of UFBU include the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA), Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), Indian National Bank Employees Federation (INBEF), Indian National Bank Officers Congress (INBOC), National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO).
The unions are demanding government approval for the introduction of a five-day workweek, with all Saturdays declared holidays. At present, banks observe holidays on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month. The UFBU said the proposal to declare the remaining Saturdays as holidays was recommended by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) based on memorandums of understanding signed with the unions on December 7, 2023, and reaffirmed in the settlement and joint note dated March 8, 2024.
According to the UFBU, the issue of a five-day workweek has been under discussion for over a decade. In the 10th Bipartite Settlement and 7th Joint Note signed in 2015, it was agreed that the second and fourth Saturdays would be holidays, with the assurance that declaring all Saturdays as holidays would be considered in due course. However, the matter remained pending.
In 2022, the government and the IBA agreed to discuss increasing daily working hours to facilitate a five-day workweek. Following discussions in 2023, it was agreed that working hours from Monday to Friday would be increased by 40 minutes, and the remaining Saturdays would be declared holidays. While the proposal was recommended to the government, the unions said approval has been pending for nearly two years.
The UFBU had earlier called for a two-day strike on March 24 and 25, 2025, but deferred the action after the government assured that the issue was under active consideration. “Despite this assurance, no approval has been granted so far,” the forum said, adding that the January 27 strike was announced after various protest programmes failed to elicit a response.
The unions pointed out that several financial institutions, including the Reserve Bank of India, LIC and GIC, already follow a five-day workweek. Central and state government offices, stock exchanges, and money and foreign exchange markets also function only from Monday to Friday.
The UFBU maintained that declaring all Saturdays as holidays would not significantly inconvenience customers, especially with the availability of alternative banking channels such as digital and mobile banking.
Expressing resentment over what it termed “discrimination” against bank employees and officers, the UFBU said the strike was unavoidable. The unions have appealed to the public to bear with the inconvenience caused due to the nationwide shutdown of banking services on January 27.
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