LUCKNOW, Sept. 28 -- Wearing black ribbons and black clothes, public sector bank employees in Lucknow on Sunday observed 'black day' to protest against Centre's attitude towards them. Though the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) had given a call for three-day nationwide bank strike from Monday to press for a five-day working week and other pending demands, the strike has been deferred after a late Sunday meeting between the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and UFBU. The main demands of the bankers are implementation of five-day banking week- Monday to Friday with all Saturdays off-scrapping of new performance-linked incentive system and pension-related reforms. At present banks are closed only on 2nd and 4th Saturdays. The five-day week was agreed in wage settlement of March 2024 but is pending government approval. While in Lucknow on Sunday, confusion prevailed over Sunday opening. District UFBU convenor Anil Srivastava said the IBA, with RBI approval, had declared Sunday (September 27) as a working day to handle month-end load and half-yearly closing on September 30. UFBU objected saying as per bilateral settlement, Sunday cannot be declared a working day. "RBI can open banks on Sunday only in emergency circumstances. Then staff called through office order must be paid 200% overtime and officers given compensatory off or discomfort allowance," Srivastava said. After forum's protest, management withdrew its order and decided to open banks strictly as per bilateral provisions, with overtime/discomfort allowance to those called....