LAHORE, Oct 22: The United Bank Council of CBA Trade Unions has demanded increase in salaries of its employees, and redress of their grievances for ensuring efficient working of the bank.

In a letter addressed to the bank’s Board of Directors chairman Shaikh Nahyan Mubarik Al Nahyan and members, the council chairman, Malik Muhammad Husain, said increase in the UBL employees’ salaries was necessary because they had been getting the lowest in the entire banking sector in the country.

“Staff shortage also required to be overcome because the vacancies created after retrenchment and voluntary retirements on a large scale had not been filled till date,” he said.

The bank management in Pakistan, he said, had abolished earned leaves exceeding 180 days without encashment after reducing the earned leave accumulation ceiling from 365 days, besides disallowing medical facility to the parents of the employees and restricting reimbursement to six diseases, including AIDS.

He wrote that the highly-paid consultants were being advanced loans at a nominal three per cent markup, in addition to sharing of 50 per cent of their income tax liability by the bank. On the other hand, the markup on old housing and transport loans had been raised above the prevailing market rates, he added.

The council chairman said senior officers in the bank were being posted tellers and new appointees were being designated as managers. The dependents of the old employees were being denied the employment quota and sacked union office-bearers not being reinstated, he wrote in the letter.