National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) has put its picket and work-to-rule campaign on hold after its meeting with Human Resources Minister Dr Fong Chan Onn this afternoon.

Malaysian Trades Union Congress secretary-general G Rajasekaran said officials from NUBE as well as MTUC met the minister at his office in Putrajaya to find a workable formula so that banks can restore the union subscription deduction facility.

"The decision (to suspend campaign) was made on advice of Dr Fong. The minister will meet with Malayan Commercial Banks Association (MCBA) tomorrow to convey the outcome of his efforts and we hope banks will respect his advice," said Rajasekaran (right) in a statement.

NUBE secretary-general J Solomon said the union members had done their part by suspending all protest actions.

Last week, Fong said he had devised a "special formula" of which the content was not disclosed to resolve the ongoing dispute between MCBA and NUBE.

The dispute started when MCBA which represents nine major banks stopped providing the check-off facility for their employees to pay their monthly union subscription since October.

NUBE which claims some 30,000 members has accused the banks of carrying out a union-busting exercise as employees will lose their membership should they fail to pay their union fees for three consecutive months.

Pickets for three weeks

MCBA, however, claimed that it scrapped the facility to avoid legal entanglement from the power struggle within NUBE between two rival factions led by Solomon and a former office bearer Muhammad Fauzi Shamsuddin.

Bank employees have been staging pickets over the past three weeks to protest the MCBA's decision.

Last week, just before Hari Raya Aidilfitri, bank employees heeded the NUBE's call to work to rule and caused considerable delay in work to show their dissatisfaction with their employers.

NUBE said though the campaign had caused frustration among customers, it was important for the employees to safeguard their interests first.