Some 3000 members of the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) have turned up on the streets of Kuala Lumpur to protest against employers this afternoon.

NUBE protest After gathering in front of the Maybank headquarters around 2pm, they appealed for 10 demands, such as stopping the exploitation of workers, especially in regards to the ill-treatment of pregnant women in the workforce.

They then marched towards the CIMB bank at Menara UAB from Maybank headquarters, while chanting slogans like “Maybank down!”, “CIMB down!” and “We will fight till the end” during the three-hour protest.

The protest was named "Picket Daulat 6413" in conjunction with the first anniversary of the NUBE meeting with then Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, which took place on April 6 last year.

Nube sec gen J Solomon NUBE secretary-general J Solomon ( left ) said that although the bankers have dismissed the employees’ request for a 51-percent salary increment for three years as “excessive”, yet the top management has been enjoying an annual salary increment of 53 percent.

For example, he named the chief executive officers of Bank Muamalat, Maybank and CIMB as having earned as much as RM833,300 monthly, whereas their subordinates are paid as little as RM900 a month.

“If the CEOs of CIMB, Maybank and Muamalat cannot protect the workers’ rights, resign now... if they are still deaf (on our demands), resign!

'Overcharging led to bankruptcy'

“If they are still stubborn, we will come back again with more people!” he told to cheers from the crowd, some of whom were armed with placards reading “(CIMB bank CEO) Nazir is cruel”, among others.

NUBE protest At a press conference later, Solomon also slammed the bankers for overcharging their customers, the effects of which have led them to the path of “bankruptcy”.

When queried on whether NUBE will be appealing to political parties during the coming polls, he claimed that the union will remain apolitical.

“We don’t want to politicise the workers’ issue... we expect politicians to understand our grief,” he told reporters.

However, Solomon has noted that the government should not allow the government-linked company (GLC) bankers to oppress and suppress the workers’ rights.