February 28, 2007	Wednesday	Safar 10, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 27: The management of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd (ZTBL) is having a tough time at the hands of the employees it sacked under the Asian Development Bank-sponsored restructuring programme. In one of the biggest lay-offs in recent years in the country, the ZTBL terminated 1,850 clerical and non-clerical staff, say the employees.

In a strong show of resistance, some 300 workers took virtual control of the ZTBL headquarters while scores of others are protesting in all 25 zonal offices of bank across the country.

Workers of some other banks, sacked under the same process, have expressed their support to the affected employees.

An MNA of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement also joined the workers in their protests here.

The All Pakistan ZTBL Employees (APZE) has moved the Supreme Court, seeking a suo moto action. They have also planned to register their protest with President Pervez Musharraf during his visit to Thatta on Wednesday.

The union has already moved a labour court against the decision.

“If our demands are not met by Saturday, all the affected employees and their families will arrive in Islamabad and commit self-immolation in front of the Supreme Court building,” APZE secretary-general Mohammad Iqbal Khattak told Dawn.

Due to growing threats of a possible attack from angry workers, officers of the middle-level management have not turned up at the ZTBL headquarters for the last two days, with the union workers claiming that all functions of the bank have come to a standstill.

The bank has landed into further crisis amid rumours that ZTBL President Rashid Ahmed Chughtai, whose term expires on March 4, is not being granted extension.

The union has sent a charge-sheet against the bank president to all relevant departments, including the NAB, carrying information about the “hefty salary and the perks he was enjoying”. It has also levelled allegations of corruption and misuse of power against him.

Meanwhile, a press release issued by the ZTBL management said the bank’s operations were running smoothly and as usual.

The bank issued a notification saying that only 700 clerical staff had been terminated while the non-clerical staff (which take the total number to 1,850) had not been terminated yet.

The clerical staff with an experience of 10 years and above could apply for jobs offered by Kissan Support Services Ltd, a ZTBL subsidiary.

However, the protesting workers said the terminations were in violation of clause 6 of the ordinance passed by President Musharraf in October 2002 for the reorganisation and conversion of the Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP) into a public limited company. The clause entitled the ADBP employees to serve the ZTBL in the same capacity.

Meanwhile, Mr Chughtai has termed the allegations of corruption and misuse of power as baseless and said the bank would pay Rs900 million to the terminated staff. He said the restructuring process had started in 2003 and would be completed by June 2008, and the bank would get $250 million from the ADB.

The money was being utilised to restructure the bank organisationally, financially and functionally, he said, adding that the plan was to put the bank on a viable and self-sustained basis to operate on commercial lines.

In order to achieve the goal of restructuring, the bank is required to cut down on its establishment cost which is Rs2.6 billion annually. Of this amount, Rs442 million goes to the salaries and other expenditures of the clerical staff.