The National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) has called for its members in Bumiputra Commerce Bank (BCB) to start picketing from Oct 9, following the failure by negotiating parties to agree on a list of long-standing issues .

In a statement, the union said its National Executive Council had decided unanimously at a meeting last Friday to commence picket at all BCB branches nationwide from Oct 9 until further notice.

"The adamant refusal by BCB to settle the outstanding dispute has resulted in the members of BCB calling on the union to commence picketing. Picketing will be held during lunch hour between 12.30pm and 1.30 pm," said the statement.

According to the union, the decision was taken in view of the BCB's refusal to settle a two-year-old dispute with employees over the latter's demands to bring benefits more in line with those received by top management.

The disagreement intensified following two recent developments - the expiry of the BCB employees' collective agreement last December and the on-going NUBE leadership crisis .

'Unfair' practices

Among the demands of the BCB employees are extension of pilgrimage leave granted to unionised employees from 14 days to 30 days as enjoyed by management staff, as well as the revocation of long-service rewards.

They also cried foul over alleged "unfair labour practice" in the allocation of shares to employees under the Employees Share Option scheme offered by the bank and the "arbitrary" transfer of employees without consideration for the hardship it might cause.

Another grouse is the outsourcing of the part of the bank's activities to its subsidiary EPIC-I Sdn Bhd, a move which the union said is in breach of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (Bafia).

Although the latter complaint arose out of concern that employees may be retrenched as a result of the change, the matter was further highlighted amidst allegations that a contract worker hired by the EPIC-I had committed fraudulent transfers.

The allegation has been denied by the BCB.

No compensation

In a related development, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) also spoke out against outsourcing of bank businesses following an announcement by Maybank that it had issued termination notices to 290 employees effective from Oct 13.

"Maybank has decided to contract out its entire electronics banking operations to an United States-based IT service provider and they have requested all terminated employees to join the new contractor," said MTUC secretary-general G Rajasekaran.

Rajasekaran criticised Maybank's decision as "most inconsiderate" and "in direct violation" of the code of conduct for industrial harmony.

"They have also ignored the 'last-in-first-out' principle in selecting candidates for retrenchment. Most of the employees have served the bank for 10 to 20 years and Maybank has refused to pay any compensation for their years of service."

Referring to the EPIC-I scandal involving the BCB, the union leader said the new trend in the banking sector could also have serious repercussions on customer confidentiality.

"We urge Bank Negara to review its decision to allow Malaysian banks to hand over vital information to contractors who do not come under their purview and control," he added.