𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀.
Banks using their own official Social Media handles to campaign against their own employees.
Employees being portrayed as if they are the enemy of the very customers they serve every single day.
And then came the silence.
I searched for voices from the top.
Where were the executives when their own people were being publicly discredited?
Where was the outrage when employees were reduced to a convenient villain?
Where was the voice questioning an arbitrary PLI scheme?
Silence. Complete silence.
Because speaking against a union is easy.
Speaking against your own employees is even easier.
But speaking truth to your own institution?
That takes a spine.
It takes courage to say “This is wrong” when the wrong is being done by the organisation that signs your pay cheque.
It takes integrity to stand up when standing up can cost you comfort, proximity, privileges or a designation.
Institutional loyalty should never mean surrendering your conscience.
A bank can survive a strike.
It can survive criticism.
It can survive disagreement.
What it should never normalise is the humiliation of its own people.
To my fellow bankers:
Don’t lose your voice merely because you wear the same logo.
Because the day employees become afraid to question their own institution is the day an institution stops having employees with a voice and starts having people who merely follow orders.
And that is a far more dangerous failure than any strike.
#BankersOnStrike
Digital banking has transformed customer access. The principal mobile apps of 12 Public Sector Banks have recorded at least 34.2 crore Android installations collectively. The banking work model must keep pace. #5DayBankingNow#5DayBankingNow#NCBE@ncbeofficial
India’s banking system is 24×7. Digital banking has expanded rapidly. 24,162 crore UPI transactions, 34.2 crore installations of official mobile-banking apps, 2.60 lakh BC/CSP points and 1.34 lakh PSB ATMs/CRMs. Yet bankers still work 6 days a week. Banking has changed. It’s time for the workweek to change. We demand the implementation of 5-Day Banking.
#5DayBankingNow
Bankers keep India connected 24×7.
But behind every transaction, target and deadline is a human being, with a family, responsibilities and a life beyond the branch.
A 5-day week was agreed in March 2024, with bankers accepting longer working hours from Monday to Friday.
The demand is reasonable. The commitment is proven. The delay is difficult to justify.
Implement 5-Day Banking now.
@PMOIndia@narendramodi@FinMinIndia@nsitharaman@DFS_India
#5DayBankingNow
India’s Bank employees seek two things rooted in fairness and dignity at work.
#5DayWeekandFairPLI
The demand for a 5 Day Work Week in banks is not new. It already stands agreed upon in the Bipartite Settlement of March 2024. What remains is its long-pending implementation.
At the same time, the unilateral and discriminatory PLI system must be abolished and replaced with a fair, transparent and inclusive framework for all employees, recognising the collective effort behind every institution’s performance.
Hardworking bank employees are not asking for privilege. They are asking for implementation of an agreement and equality in reward.
A motivated banking workforce strengthens Indian banking and the nation.
@PMOIndia