Public sector bank (PSB) employees, may get salary hikes of 15-20% and implementation of a five-day work week by mid-December as the 12th bipartite settlement talks between bank unions and associations and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) have entered final stages, reported the Financial Express
"This is the first time in the history of negotiations that the offer [for wage hike] is starting with 15 per cent. It [wage hike] will likely be between 15% and 20%," IBA sources told Financial Express.
The report further mentioned that the announcement of the five-day work week will be made either concurrently with or immediately following the pay raise declaration by the Centre or the IBA. The wage revision and change in work days would also apply to regional rural banks.
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As per Financial Express, the implementation of the five-day workweek will lead to branches remaining closed on weekends however employees may be asked to work for extra hours during the week to compensate for lost working hours
This comes as the current wage agreement for PSB employees expired on November 1, 2022. Since then, the IBA and the unions representing bank employees have been negotiating a new wage agreement. One final meeting will be held between the IBA and the bank unions where the two parties will sign a MoU, which will then be handed to the finance ministry for final approval.
In 2020, the IBA and the United Forum of Bank Unions signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by which around 85,000 bank employees got a 15% increase in their salary packages.