Banks to Remain Closed for Five Days

Banks in India will remain closed from Friday (21 December) to Wednesday (26 December) excluding Monday (24 December) due to strikes and holidays.

The All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) and the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), the umbrella body of 9 bank unions including AIBOC have warned to go on strikes on 21 and 26 December respectively. The banks will also remain closed on 22 and 23 December i.e. Saturday and Sunday and on 25 December due to Christmas.

However, on 24 December, banks will open a small window for people to carry out any transactions during this period. The 5-day bank holiday is likely to hamper banking services all across the country.

The AIBOC has called for a strike tomorrow, demanding unconditional consent for the XIth bipartite salary revision talks, informed officials. Sajay Das, AIBOC Assistant General Secretary said, "We have called for strike on 21 December demanding full and unconditional mandate for the XIth bipartite wage revision talks based on a charter of demands submitted in May, 2017. No advance has been made in the process even after 19 months since discussion on wage revision began".

Subhujyoti Chattopadahyay, President of the trade union's West Bengal unit said, the strike will also highlight "the issue of the declaration proposing to merge 3 public sector banks - Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank as well as the consolidation of Regional Rural Banks".

Meanwhile, the ATMs will function normally during the strike whereas on 26^th December, ATM services would also be affected, media reported.