Banks will be shut for six days next month as employees protest ‘half’ wages

• India’s public sector banks will be shut for nearly a week in March between 10 and 15.
  
• Union employees are going on a strike demanding wage hikes.
  
• Bank employees claim that their basic salary is half of what other central employees get.
  

India’s public sector banks will be shut for nearly a week in March between 10 and 15 as union employees are going on a strike demanding wage hikes. The strike is timed with the festival of Holi and ahead of the second weekend of March ensuring that banks and customers alike take note of their dissent - with a long gap in banking services.

Bank employees claim that their basic salary is half of what other central employees get.

Difference in wages of bank and central government employees

Post	Salary per month
Bank Sub Staff (Assistant, Operator) Central Employee Pay Band One	₹9560 ₹18000
Bank Clerk Central Clerk Pay Bank	₹11,765 ₹25,500
Bank Officer Scale-1 Central Government Pay Band three	₹23,700 ₹56,100
Deputy Manager - 2 Central Employee Pay Band three scale 2	₹31,700 ₹67,700
General Manager -3 Central Employee Pay Band -4	₹42,020 ₹78,800

Note: this is the basic income of bank/central government employees, as of 1 January 2018

The unions demanded a wage hike of 20% on pay slip components. However, Indian Banks Association (IBA) says they will settle for a hike upto 19%. Employees called the strike after they didn’t get a chance to talk to IBA about wage revision.

This is the second bank strike of 2020 and there is one more to go. Previously, banking operations, including cash withdrawal and cheque clearance, were hit due to two-day nationwide strike in the start of February.

The bank unions also planned another indefinite strike from April 1 if their demands aren’t fulfilled.

Bank wage revisions take place every five years. Last one was due in 2017 which has not happened, leaving employees angry and frustrated. In the past wage settlement, which was for the period November 1, 2012, to October 31, 2017, employees received a wage hike of 15%.