International unionists have warned Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank) that its insistence on having an in-house workers union and dismissal of national union members could escalate to be an international issue.

Asian Regional Organisation of Banking, Insurance and Financial Unions (Robif) president CH Venkatachalam said the issue will be brought to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) should Maybank fail to resolve it immediately.

“We will escalate the pressure by writing to Malaysian embassies and holding solidarity programmes across Asia to protest against the uncivilised move,” he told reporters after attending the National Union of Banking Employees (NUBE) conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Indonesian bank union leader Muhammad Bilal Idris also echoed the condemnation, saying that a protest might be held at Maybank Indonesia.

Representatives of foreign and local unions such as the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) and Railwaymens’ Union of Malaysia were among those present at the morning conference entitled ‘Erosion of workers’ rights in Malaysia’.

It was attended by a 500-strong emotional crowd, who sang worker’s anthem ‘Solidarity Forever’ at one point of the conference.

NONE NUBE general-secretary J Solomon ( left ) said a three-hour picket will be held at the Maybank Bangsar branch office at 3pm.

Police were said to have tightened up security at several locations leading to the Maybank branch office there.

NUBE vice-president Abdul Jamil and general-treasurer Chen Ka Fatt, who both worked with Maybank, were dismissed on Jan 31 after prolonged tensions with the Maybank management which began in 2009.

The union, who has 5,000 members in Maybank, has been empowered to be the sole negotiating body in respect of the employees in Maybank since the 1950s.

In June 2009, they demanded a performance bonus and found that the Maybank CEO had received 24 months’ bonus, while employees in the lowest income group were not paid a single sen.  

Union-busting campaign

Solomon claimed that Maybank responded with a union-busting campaign and chose seven workers to form an in-house union, an act which violated the Industrial Relations Act 1967.

It was followed by a series of alleged bullying actions against NUBE members, which included physical assault, defamation suits, salary deductions and leave denials, as well as obstruction of NUBE meetings.

“Despite various appeals we have made to the Human Resources minister and other authorities, there is a lack of enforcement.

“The day after we met Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam on Jan 30, Maybank dismissed two of our members,” he claimed, alleging there were suspicious elements in the action.

Hence, the union will also lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the matter.

Later today, Maybank issued a statement claiming that the two employees were dismissed for causing the disrepute to the bank.

Maybank human resource department head Nora Abdul Manaf said the two employees, while attending an ILO conference in Switzerland last year, held a banner that reads “Maybank robs poor Malaysian workers”.

“The dismissal was not done due to trade union activities, as alleged by Nube,” she claimed.

She reiterated that this is not the first time disciplinary actions have been taken against employees for “participating in activities that materially and adversely affects them.”

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