Unionised employees of Public Bank Bhd (PBB) which has won 'best bank' awards for four consecutive years, today launched a nationwide campaign to protest against the bank for "threatening, harassing and victimising" them.

The National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today said the bank's employees had been lodging numerous complaints against their employer over several years.

The complaints include the bank's attempts to limit medical expenses, shorten lunch breaks, freeze annual increments and the 4 percent retirement benefit in what they say were a flagrant show of lack of care for employees.

The workers alleged that the bank also used the appraisal system to threaten them to reduce overtime claims and when failing in achieving 'impossible tasks'.

NUBE deputy president Abdul Zaman Abdullah said the management policies violated collective agreements signed between the union and the Malayan Commercial Banks Association.

He said the bank's employees who come from various branches have lodged complaints with the union and the bank.

There are approximately 3,000 NUBE members at the190 Public Bank branches nationwide. The union has around 25,000 members in the country.

Increasing complaints

"The complaints are increasing, and the bank has closed its doors on consultation with the union and refused to listen to the grouses of our members," he said.

"The bank is only treating them [its employees] like slaves in its aim to remain the No1 local bank," Abdul Zaman asserted.

Since the bank has insisted on closing its door, Abdul Zaman said the executive council in a recent meeting decided to carry out the protest in the hope that it will force the bank to "open the door for discussion".

PBB union members will wear a badge declaring that the 'bank terrorises workers'.

Pamphlets will also be given out to the public and customers of the banks to create awareness on the bank's management style which they said not only victimises employees but also compromises customers' security during their transactions with the bank.

'Two-minute' policy

Abdul Zaman cited as an example the new bank policy that stipulates counter staff take no more than two minutes to serve customers in its bid to cut down the waiting time in providing "quality customer services".

A bell rings every two minutes to denote the time limit, making not only service staff feel uneasy but also customers occasionally.

"Customers who have lodged complaints said they feel unsafe and deprived of privacy when the queue behind them can see their transactions and the amount of money withdrawn," he said.

On the possibility of bringing the case to the industrial court, he said the executive council has yet to make a decision on it pending the outcome of the hoped-for meeting and the bank's response.

When asked what resolutions or compromise the union is hoping for, he replied, "We believe in a win-win situation." He said the protest will continue until the management is willing to talk to the union.

"The employees only want a conducive working condition. So, the protest will continue until it (the victimisation) is stopped," he stressed.

The union's vice-president Rosida Abdul Mutalib and secretary-general J Solomon were also present at the press conference.

Public Bank could not be reached for comment.

The bank made RM650 million profit for the first six months of this year. It grew by 8 percent for the same period; its total assets now stand at RM57.3 billion.

Public Bank was voted for the fourth consecutive year as the best local bank in the country by Finance Asia for the year 2002.