The Malaysian Commercial Banks Association has called on the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) to call off its scheduled picket in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow.

It said that over the past few months, NUBE held a series of pickets in relation to some issues, at several bank offices in various states.

In a statement in Kuala Lumpur today, the association said the union disregarded the fact that its action caused grave inconvenience to the public and bank customers.

It said the issues could be resolved if the union raised it through the dispute mechanism and procedures, as provided by the collective agreement and the laws of the country.

According to the statement, the association and its member banks “would be ever willing and ready to engage the union through proper channel and etiquette though admittedly, sometimes member banks do find it insurmountable to satisfy certain union demands, such as demanding for 80 months bonus and salary adjustment by over 50 percent”.

It also claimed that in many of the picketing conducted against its member banks, many of the participants were not employees of the banks concerned and this a gross violation of the Industrial Relations Act 1967.

“We urge the relevant authorities to prevent illegal picketing and take appropriate action against those who have flouted the law,” said the statement.

Picket to proceed, says union

In an immediate response, NUBE general secretary J Solomon said that the picket will proceed as planned.

He is expecting over 20,000 union members consisting of clerical and non-clerical bank staff from all over the country to be in Kuala Lumpur for the picket.

Solomon said the union had a meeting with the Human Resources Ministry on Wednesday.

 

"They asked us to stand down on our plans to stage the picket. However, they were not willing to provide us any undertaking or assurances that the grouses that NUBE has highlighted will be addressed by them. As such, our picket 'Daulat' will go on as scheduled."

According to NUBE, there had been no response from the banks. The union is calling for immediate resolution of the various exploitation of workers and customers by the three government-linked banks in the country.

- Bernama