If you have been going to the banks recently, you would have noticed (or not) those little badges which the bank officers have been placing around their ties and necklines, reading “(Bank name) rompak bonus” (loosely translated as “(Bank name) robs bonuses” ).

I managed to get the story behind these little badges (some of them reading “I stand up for my rights!” ) from a CIMB employee yesterday when I went to collect my Western Union money transfer from Nil.

Apparently, the bank union (for employees) have been trying to get the banks to give them all a 30% increment (usually unions are for non-management staff although I could be wrong). So expect this in every other bank not just Maybank or CIMB. This increment occurs once in a blue moon unlike non-banking sectors where if you’re luckily, you get an increment each year. Initially the bank refused but caved and their method is somewhat sneeky, if not typical.

They decided to cut out bonuses completely and use that money as increments. Best part of all is this: someone somewhere in the union did the math and the so-called increments total up to 15% at most. Hence the “strike”…the Malaysian way.

With the increase in cost of living here in Kuala Lumpur, it’s hard not to object to a pay increase and bank officers, your regular teller at the counter greeting you with a forced smile sometimes, aren’t paid that fantastically to begin with. I would really like one as well.

O’well…lets see how this ends.