The Malayan Commercial Banks Association (MCBA) today denied it was carrying out an union-busting exercise, saying it was compelled to discontinue 'check off' facilities due to a legal action threat.

In a statement, its president Nik Hassan Nik Mohd Amin said the association was currently uncertain which of the two factions in the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) was the legitimate representative.

"The director-general of trade unions (Izahar Ismail), who is the competent authority, has registered (only) one faction.

"This decision is being challenged by the other faction. There are many court cases pending and stay orders in place," he said.

Bank employees have been picketing against MCBA's decision to stop the monthly 'check off' automatic deduction of fees from their monthly salary for the past two months.

Union members will automatically lose their membership if they fail to pay the fees for three consecutive months.

NUBE alleged that this was a move to disable the union.

'Goodwill basis'

Meanwhile, Nik Hassan added that MCBA had sought confirmation from Izahar but he was unable to state which faction in the union was legitimate due the court cases and stay orders.

Furthermore, he said banks have been providing 'check off' facilities to the union for many years on a "goodwill basis" although it was not a requirement by law or agreement.

This also continued when the NUBE leadership crisis emerged in Oct 2001.

"However, MCBA was compelled to cease the 'check off' facilities when it received conflicting instructions from both factions.

"One giving notice of possible legal action if the banks continued to remit the union dues deducted to the party whom it regards as not the legitimate representative of the union and whom they claimed to be illegally occupying the union's registered office," he said.

The MCBA president stressed the banks would agree to restore the facilities if a neutral solution which addressed the issue and protected the banks from legal action was agreed to.

Two options

Nik Hassan said the association appreciated the Human Resources Ministry's efforts to resolve the crisis and added that it has proposed two options for the ministry to consider.

The first was that banks deduct and remit the union subscription fees to a trust account agreed by both factions. A possible trustee being Amanah Raya Bhd.

The second option was that banks deduct and remit the union subscriptions following an arrangement by the two factions similar to that made by the factions and their respective legal counsel in regard to the insurance scheme.

"Contrary to some press reports, the banks have never stopped deducting insurance premiums,"said the president.

Nik Hassan also denied that the banks questioned the expenses of either factions, as alleged by NUBE.

"The banks are adopting a strictly neutral stance and employees are now free to remit their subscriptions to any faction they wish," he said.

MCBA is made up of Alliance Bank, Maybank, Bumiputra Commerce, Hong Leong Bank, Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (HSBC), Affin Bank, Public Bank, RHB Bank and Standard Chartered.

Picket resumes

Yesterday, the association was criticised for not heeding the advice of Human Resources Minister Dr Fong Chan Onn to maintain industrial harmony.

Over the weekend, the minister had called on MCBA to resume the fees deduction as demanded by the union.

However in a letter to NUBE yesterday, the banks said they were in communication with the minister.

The disappointed union which boasts a 28,0000-strong membership then resolved to continue picketing after a three-day hiatus given to the banks to decide on the matter.

This afternoon, some 500 bank employees from all over the city staged a picket outside the HSBC headquarters in Lebuh Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.