look news india
5 Days Working in Bank: Bank employees have been demanding to work five days a week for a long time. If the government gives the green signal then their demand can be fulfilled by the end of this year. A consensus has been reached between the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and employee unions on this issue. Now only the government's approval is awaited, which is expected to be received by December 2024. If this approval is granted, bank employees will work only five days a week and will get Saturday and Sunday off.
Awaiting government approval
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has already been signed between IBA and bank unions regarding this decision. Both public and private banks were included in this agreement signed in December 2023. After this, a joint note was also signed between IBA and All India Bank Officers Confederation on 8 March 2024, in which the outline of 5 working days and weekend leave was decided. However, this change depends on the approval of the government.
RBI's role is also important
This proposal will also go to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for discussion, because it is the RBI that regulates the banking hours and internal functioning of the banks. The government has not set any time limit for approval on this proposal, but it is expected that its notification may come by the end of the year.
working hours may increase
According to reports, if the government approves 5-day working hours, the daily working hours of banks may increase by 40 minutes. Along with this, bank branches will remain open from 9:45 am to 5:30 pm. At present banks remain closed only on second and fourth Saturdays.
New bank opening time – 9:45 am
New bank closing time – 5:30 pm
The rules of bank functioning will change
Some bank employees believe that they are expected to get a notification from the government on this proposal in late 2024 or early 2025. After getting approval from the government, Saturday will be recognized as a holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act. This would mean that banks would remain closed on both Saturday and Sunday every week.
The demand was going on for a long time
Bank unions have been demanding a holiday on every Saturday and Sunday since 2015. In 2015, under the 10th bilateral agreement, the RBI and the government, along with the IBA, recognized the second and fourth Saturdays as holidays. Now if this proposal is approved then bank employees will work only 5 days a week and will be able to rest on weekends.