About 30 members of the beleaguered National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) today slammed the Human Resources Ministry for taking a stand favourable to banks instead of protecting their interests.

The group, comprising non-executive staff from several Kuala Lumpur-based local and foreign banks, questioned the motive behind the government's decision to de-register the union on the basis of resolving the protracted internal feud.

Poon Kai Chong ( seated,left ) with Citibank Bhd, said it was very strange that the ministry wanted to dissolve the union when "those who had misused our money are walking around freely".

"Why weren't the MCA or Tabung Haji de-registered when both were embroiled in much worse fraud not too long ago?" he said at a joint press conference with the Malaysian Trades Union Congress in Petaling Jaya today.

"We are being punished when the fraud was committed by a few individuals who are still free despite numerous police reports and memorandum asking for investigations. Why is the government silent on this?"

Another member wanted the government to investigate the allegations based on the countless police reports and memorandum submitted by the current elected NUBE officials over the past two years, while a third said he did not mind a re-election as a last resort.

The members were reacting to Human Resources Minister Dr Fong Chan Onn's statement on Monday that the de-registration of the NUBE was underway based on evidence of financial irregularities as revealed in the audit report.

Fong said the alleged financial discrepancies involving RM1.2 million were found in the external audit report which Messrs Zainal & Co completed two weeks ago.

Echoing Fong is the director-general of trade unions Zulkifly Abdullah who said that the dissolution has already been initiated.

The move was welcomed by the elected group headed by president Abdul Jalil Hamid, who also asked Fong to name the parties involved, namely members of the rival faction led by ex-NUBE president Mohammad Fauzi Shamsuddin.

Show evidence

A NUBE member, Siti Rokiah Dewa, of EON Bank, questioned why the government had not given a copy of the audit report to the union or release it to the public.

"How do we know what the findings are when we can't even see the report at all? Where is the so-called evidence in the audit report. Show us the evidence first before making damaging statements to further confuse union members," she said.

Another member Abdul Malik Kasim, of Hong Leong Bank, said if the union was dissolved, members would no longer have an avenue to fight for their rights as non-executive bank employees.

"We urge the minister to remember that some of us have been union members for 30 years and this is our bread and butter. There is nowhere else we can go.

"In fact, when we had gone to see Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to submit a memorandum on the prevailing problems in the union, we were chased out of Putrajaya instead."

However, the members wanted Abdullah to intervene because "Fong and his people has failed."

"Otherwise, the Barisan Nasional would lose 28,000 votes this coming elections, especially at a time when even 1,000 votes make a big difference," quipped another member.

Early this year, Zulkifly mooted the idea of a re-election but four months later made an about-turn by declaring that he had no power to call for one.

But the union offered to call for one on condition that he endorses the line-up voted in by members a year ago. There has not been any response since.

Misuse of power

MTUC secretary-general G Rajasekaran said as a result of the director-general of trade unions' (DGTU) indecision and infighting in the NUBE, thousands of bank employees have been subjected to various forms of unfair labour practices, totally ignoring the provisions of the collective agreement and the union.

"We are well aware of the unlimited powers vested in the DGTU, but using it to de-register the NUBE is nothing but a misuse of powers. The proposed action is clearly to destroy the union."

On Zulkifly's refusal to endorse the line-up that was voted in last year, Rajasekaran said he should give reasons for not doing so and for not providing any other alternative solution.

"We take very strong exception to the earlier denial of power by the DGTU, who all of a sudden now claims to have the prerogative to dissolve the NUBE."

He also noted that it was very odd for the ministry to talk about the DGTU's prerogative to de-register a union when the process is the reverse.

"Only when nothing can be done at the department level should the ministry step in, but here they are all working backwards."

He said the MTUC's affiliates and the union members strongly suspect that the banks' influence on the government had played a key role in the decision to dissolve the union," he told reporters.

"We had earlier on suspected such a collusion between banks and the government, and Fong has lent credence to our suspicion."

MTUC concerned

He said the banks only wanted to destroy the NUBE and split the members in order to set up several in-house unions.

Rajasekaran said the MTUC affiliates are very concerned about the current situation and wanted to meet the NUBE officials to decide on the next move.

He also questioned the rationale behind the hiring on an external auditor for a hefty RM47,000.

The bill approved by Zulkifly, he said, remains unsettled although the DGTU himself had personally ordered the bank to release the sum from the union's accounts, all of which have been frozen by his orders, to the audit firm.

"This in itself amounts to a misuse of union funds because the normal fee for auditing the NUBE accounts is about RM15,000. Why approve a figure three times more?" he asked.

Fong and Zulkifly could not be contacted for comments today.