Bank Employees Stage Strong Protest Under Gaurav Chaturvedi’s Leadership, Demand Five-Day Work Week
Varanasi: As part of the nationwide one-day strike by employees and officers of public and private sector banks, banking organisations staged a strong protest on Friday at the Bank of Baroda Regional Office, Baroda Bhawan, Chandpur Industrial Estate, Varanasi. The protesters demanded implementation of a five-day work week and early resolution of various long-pending issues.
Gaurav Chaturvedi, Regional Secretary of the All India Bank Officers’ Association and President of the Indian National Bank Officers’ Congress, Uttar Pradesh, actively participated in the protest. He said that the five-day work week is a long-pending and legitimate demand of bank employees. He pointed out that under the agreement reached in March 2024, employees had agreed to work an additional 40 minutes from Monday to Friday. However, the proposal to declare the remaining Saturdays as holidays has been pending with the Ministry of Finance for nearly two and a half years.
The protesters also demanded adequate recruitment of clerical and subordinate staff, a roadmap for replacing the National Pension System with the Old Pension Scheme, tax exemption on the additional four per cent contribution under NPS, enhancement of gratuity limits, pension updation, and settlement of demands related to pre-gratia and dearness allowance.
Other demands included appointment of employee and officer directors in banks, introduction of a leave bank system, and payment of medical insurance premiums for retired employees by the banks.
Office-bearers and hundreds of bank employees and officers from various organisations, including Vishal Kumar, Tarun Kumar Mangalam, Gaurav Singh, Sonakshi Kishore, P.K. Ghosh, S.P. Roy, Aman Seth, Raghavendra Chaturvedi, Rajesh Yadav, Kaushal Rawat, Jai Prakash, Mohan Lal, Puneet K. Singh, Rakesh Mehta and R.K. Jain, participated in the demonstration.
The United Forum of Bank Unions announced further agitation, including a three-day nationwide strike on September 28, 29 and 30, followed by an indefinite strike from October 26, 2026.
The protesters said that increasing workload in the banking sector has made the implementation of a five-day work week essential for better work-life balance. They also pointed out that a five-day work week is already in place in several government institutions and organisations, including the Reserve Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India, NABARD, private companies and stock market-related institutions.