A senior union leader has attributed the protracted factional feud for the leadership of the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) to the lackadaisical attitude of key officers in the Human Resources Ministry.

Declining to name the officers, Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general G Rajasekaran said efforts to resolve the three-year deadlock were hampered by the lack of urgency demonstrated by the officers.

He said Minister Dr Fong Chan Onn had promised to do something but there has been nothing conclusive on the proposal to hold a fresh election.

"He has been unable to do much due to the internal stumbling block," Rajasekaran said when contacted today.

"We feel that Fong, while keen to resolve the crisis, is stuck because his officers just don't seem bothered enough to show some commitment in resolving the matter."

"But we will wait for his feedback on the fresh election by next week."

No sense of urgency

Rajasekaran said these observations were based on the meetings with the minister, especially since the MTUC started to broker a peace deal over the NUBE issue early this year.

He said the minister appeared to be surrounded by officers who are inefficient and possess no sense of urgency which was extremely frustrating.

"When we meet and remind him of certain issues, you would expect his officers to provide the latest updates," said Rajasekaran.

"But most often, they only have excuses to offer... of being unable to reach such-and-such a person or fix appointments or get a more solid commitment from another government agency."

Despite the criticism, he did offer them the benefit of the doubt by attributing the lack of urgency to merely being cautious, especially when dealing with the NUBE controversy.

"Perhaps the officers are only being careful. In this matter, they may prefer referring to the Attorney-General all the time before proceeding with any action as the other group is waiting around like a 'vulture' and will not hesitate to be a hindrance."

Rajasekaran also cited the 1,000 case-backlog in the Industrial Court and the 6,000-case backlog at the Industrial Relations Department as examples of how the officers showed no interest to settle the disputes promptly.

"The minister had to personally get the details of the progress of the backlog. Situations like these are what frustrates a lot of people, what more the NUBE members themselves."

Why pick on only 10?

On Thursday, Rajasekaran met Fong to discuss, among other issues, the NUBE leadership crisis which has become a prolonged court battle with no solution in sight.

He also raised the dismissal of 10 NUBE members, including the general secretary of one faction, J Solomon, by Bank Bumiputra-Commerce Berhad late last month.

"We submitted documents as evidence of the bank's union-busting action through selective prosecution.

"Why pick only these 10 members when more than 300 had picketed on that day ?"

The NUBE members were protesting the bank's outsourcing plans and the management's refusal to negotiate a new collective agreement.

Earlier, the bank suspended 15 members for illegal picketing on Oct 21 last year but later only 10 proceeded to a domestic inquiry before being sacked.

Rajasejaran said this was clearly an intimidation tactic used by the bank.

"Those (suspended) who had personally replied to the management were reinstated without any question but those who stood their ground were sacked."

He said Fong plans to meet the bank's chief executive officer next week on this.

The minister could not be reached for comments today.