New Delhi: Employees at public sector banks (PSBs) are going see better days ahead as they are going to witness a 15%-20% hike in salaries. Apart from this, the implementation of a five-day work week is likely to be implemented by the middle of December as the 12th bipartite settlement talks between bank unions and associations and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) have entered the final stage, sources closely following the development told Financial Express.
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“This is the first time in the history of negotiations that the offer (for wage hike) is starting with 15%. It (wage hike) will likely be between 15% and 20%,” sources at the IBA told FE.
They further stated that the announcement of the five-day work week will either be made along with the salary hike notification or immediately after that by the Centre or the IBA.
The development comes as the present salary agreement for PSB employees has expired on November 1, 2022. From this time, the IBA and the unions representing bank employees have been negotiating for the new wage agreement.
Moreover, sources at the finance ministry said that the wage revision and change in working days will also be applicable to regional rural banks.
It should be noted that around 850,000 bank employees in July 2020 got a 15% increase in their salary packages, with the IBA and the United Forum of Bank Unions signing a memorandum of understanding to settle the three-year-long contentious issue of wage revision.
People part of the negotiation process also said that the IBA and the bank unions will soon have a final meeting where the two parties will sign a memorandum of understanding, which will subsequently be sent to the finance ministry for the final approval.
They said the salary hike will be somewhere above 15% and they are negotiating hard as the PSU banks have to take a final hit on the balance sheets. Earlier, the Union Finance Ministry asked public sector lenders to complete negotiations by December 1.
Once the five-day work week starts, it will lead to branches remaining closed on weekends. To compensate for lost working hours, employees might be asked to work for extended hours during week days.
They added that the business hours will begin early on weekdays and close 30-45 minutes late than the current working hours and the bank customers who wish to withdraw or transfer cash could do so from automated teller machines, and the only challenge will come with regard to deposit of cheques.
The sources further stated that the collection of cheques will be affected for these two days but it does not make major difference and usage of cheques is increasingly getting reduced as people are opting for digital banking services.
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They also stated that as employees at insurance companies and certain state governments and the central government have a five-day work week, providing the same option to bankers is a move in the right direction.
