Banks are like bonded labour centres in Pakistan where skilled and unskilled workers are subjected to the worst kind of victimisation,” said an employee, adding that his employer was paying a minimum salary of Rs12,500 per month to the qualified skilled worker with master degree in business administration and also got very limited or no health cover. - File photo

Information gathered by Dawn reveals that young graduates employed by banks are made to work 12 hours or more every day but no overtime allowance is paid to them in violation of the country’s labour laws, which restrict work eight hours at maximum.“Both local and foreign banks are exploiting graduates desperately looking for jobs. We work more than the permissible work of eight hours daily but get no overtime,” Mohammad Akbar, an employee of a Middle East-based bank in Peshawar, told Dawn.

According to labour laws, no adult employee will be required or permitted to work in any establishment in excess of eight hours a day and 48 hours a week, and no young person in excess of seven hours a day and 42 hours a week.

The information also shows some banks pay young workers below the notified minimum wages.

The provincial government had issued a notification in December 2010 setting the salary of an unskilled worker and juvenile employee in the province at Rs269.23 per day (for eight working hours) or Rs7,000 per month (26 working days).

An unskilled employee of a foreign bank said he had been getting a fixed salary of Rs5,000 a month for four years for the daily work of nine hours.

Officials of the labour department said it was binding on private sector, including banks, to follow the minimum wages notification.

Banking sector in Pakistan saw a boom when the government embarked on privatisation of state-owned banks in early 90s.

Foreign investors, especially from the Gulf, made huge investment in banking sector and opened their branches in the country.

Due to high profits, private banks both local and foreign are establishing branches in far-flung areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

These banks have strict employment criterion setting graduation in business administration as the minimum qualification for junior positions, but don’t pay well their unskilled employees.

According to a report, a Gulf-based bank with a vast network of branches all over the world pays from Rs8,000 to Rs12,000 salary a month to skilled workers. Many of them work 14 hours a day but they are not paid overtime allowance.

“Banks are like bonded labour centres in Pakistan where skilled and unskilled workers are subjected to the worst kind of victimisation,” said an employee, adding that his employer was paying a minimum salary of Rs12,500 per month to the qualified skilled worker with master degree in business administration and also got very limited or no health cover.

A manager of a foreign bank admitted that his organisation did not pay overtime to its employees for extended hours.

The state-owned National Bank of Pakistan pays Rs2,000 a month to its employees for extended hours, while the minimum salary of a junior cashier has been fixed at Rs24,500 a month with health cover and additional monitory benefits.

Officials of the provincial labour department dealing with private sectors, including banks, said bank employees had yet to lodge complaint with them regarding low wages and nonpayment of overtime allowance.

A senior official of the department said under ‘The West Pakistan Shops and Establishments Ordinance-1969’, banking sector had to follow all labour laws and would have to pay to their employees all benefits including overtime wages.

He said the department would take action against any organisation for non compliance of labour laws.

“In fact, there is lack of awareness among workers of their legal rights. If a worker formally lodges complaint, then the department will take action against the company or employer,” he said.