HYDERABAD, March 16: Account holders of Habib Bank Limited (HBL) faced inconvenience as employees in all the branches of the bank Hyderabad and its adjoining districts observed a tool-down strike for one hour on Saturday in response to the call of HBL Employees Federation against forced retrenchment of messengers, guards and drivers.

A general body meeting of employees was held at the main station road branch. The president of the HBL Staff Union Amjad Ali Memon, general secretary Murad Ali, Azeem Sarwar and Faisal Abdul Rasheed addressed the general body meeting.

The union leaders said that thee were 59 branches of the bank in Dadu, Nawabshah, Matiari, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Tharparkar, Badin, Thatta and Hyderabad. They said that in the first phase after privatisation of the bank around 2,300 employees including 67 workers of Hyderabad region had been sacked.

They alleged that certain retired executives of the bank had formed their own companies which had been given the task to hire retrenched employees on not so good monetary contracts.

The leaders ridiculed the logic of bank management of retrenching the employees when they are being re-employed on contracts in the same bank. “It reflected the anti-labour approach of the management”, they alleged and said that there was no truth in the claim that 2300 employees are being given Rs one million to Rs four million under golden hand shake schemes.

They said sacking of 2300 employees of HBL must have rung alarm bells for workers of those organisations which were being privatised. They apprehended that after sacking of messengers, guards and drivers, the upper and lower division clerks and other staff would be targeted.

They demanded reinstatement of the employees to end unrest among workers. They announced to increase the duration of their tool down strike for two hours from Friday.