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.