Workers of the Bumiputra-Commerce Bank Berhad (BCB) who are fighting to stop the bank from outsourcing its non-core banking operations will meet with the Human Resources Ministry on Feb 28.

The meeting, held to discuss the outsourcing activities which the bank began implementing last year, was originally scheduled for today. The move to outsource has met a lot of resistance from the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) members.

When contacted today, NUBE general secretary J Solomon said Industrial Relations Department director Mohd Hairi Mohd Salleh, who had chaired the previous meeting on Monday, had informed him of the postponement this morning.

I think the discussion is going to be about the ex-gratia payments but I will raise the outsourcing issue because it is part of the agenda, he said.

At Mondays conciliatory meeting with NUBE at the Human Resources Ministry in Putrajaya, the BCB management said it would discuss the outsourcing issue tomorrow as it would be conducting a briefing on it for all unions in the banking industry.

Those to be briefed are expected to include the Association of Bank Officers Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak Bank Employees Union, BCB Staff Executive Union (formerly known as BOC Staff Executive Union) and NUBE.

Banks considering outsourcing include Standard Chartered Bank Bhd.

Sold out

Between last August and September, BCB outsourced the non-core functions to EPIC-I Sdn Bhd, a Bank of Commerce (BOC) subsidiary formerly known as BOC Properties Sdn Bhd.

The move followed changes, concluded March 7 last year, to the collective agreement between NUBE and employers, the Malayan Commercial Banks Association, which had previously disallowed the bank from outsourcing its operations.

The change did not go down well with many bank workers who felt shortchanged that top union leaders who agreed to the outsource had demand in return for a maternity allowance that benefitted only a small percentage of bank employees.

They argued that out of about 60 percent of female union members, only about 10-20 percent will stand to gain from the offer of a maximum RM500 for the first two children.

They also believe that the actual trade-off was the banks offer to check off the payment of the 10 percent levy implemented by NUBE between March and June last year due to, it was said, dire financial straits. About 10 percent of union members have yet to pay.

Other outstanding issues between BCB and union workers include the issue of ex-gratia payment for clerical and non-clerical category employees, the decision of which is expected by Feb 28.

The bank is also planning to do away with its long service awards which has been in practice for the last 20 years under the former BOC management. Employees are also taking issue with the pilgrimage leave policy which they say is discriminating as it favours officers. The decision on these two issues is expected on June 3.

BCB has approximately 6,000 unionised staff while NUBE has a total of 29,000 members.