Dharamshala: Haunted by long working hours under the shadow of Covid-19 pandemic, the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) have demanded for the welfare of banker employees, who are highly exposed to general public dealing, the office scheduled be reduced to a 5 day working week.
The bankers have again raised demand even though the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) only in January 2020 had rejected the 5 day work week demand of the bank unions’. Instead IBA offered a 19% pay hike to the employees. At present, in addition to Sundays, banks have holidays on the second and fourth Saturdays in every month.
In a statement today AIBEA says that while the world is carving for 4 Days Working, our country is still finding a way to opt for 5 Days Banking. It said that Bank Unions are demanding from more than a decade to get it but the same is yet to be agreed by bank management so far.
Deepak Sharma president of largest banking organization AISBOF (All India State Bank Officers Federation) says, “it will be a positive step for Digital India and in conformity with PM’s vision. The working conditions in the Banks have been strenuous. Poor infrastructure, lack of adequate staff has made the officers work till late in the night, resulting in poor health, huge pressure on the officers, which culminates in serious work-leisure mismatches, life style diseases and of late, repeated acts of suicides being committed by the officers of the Banks.”
Sharma added further, “Officers are called upon to work on holidays and Sundays, frequently disrupting the personal life. On account of this, officers are being burnt-out, unable to justify themselves in their family.”
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
