Bank employees have something to cheer on alternate weekends. The Centre on Thursday declared that the second and fourth Saturday of every month would be a holiday for banks, with effect from September 1, 2015.

This announcement is being made as part of the agreement arrived at during the 10 bipartite wage settlement between the IBA and bank employees’ unions in June this year.

Welcoming the decision, All India Bank Employees’ Association general secretary C.H. Venkatachalam said, “As of now, they are working on all Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Beginning September, they will have two alternate Saturdays as holidays and have to work from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays.”