Some 500 members of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) protested at the Human Resources Ministry in Putrajaya yesterday, demanding the annulment of Maybank's in-house union and for the ministry to act on unaddressed labour issues.

NONE MTUC president Khalid Atan ( left ) said the congress wants the in-house union to be annulled as the bank's employees are already represented by the National Union of Bank Employees (Nube).

“There are two overlapping unions representing the same group of employees...We want Nube to represent all,” Khalid told Malaysiakini when contacted after the two-hour picket.

MTUC also condemned the Human Resource Ministry for approving the Maybank in-house union despite knowing that Nube has been representing the bank employees for decades.

On Nov 7, the High Court dismissed Nube's attempt to challenge the registration of the Maybank National Employees Union (Mayneu) by the director-general of trade unions.

NONE In a reply to Parliament, Human Resources Minister Richard Riot ( right ) said the ministry cannot stop workers from forming their own unions as workers are guaranteed freedom of association.

However, this was challenged by opposition politicians who said having multiple unions empowered to conduct collective agreements would cause confusion and impair employer-employee discussions.

Meanwhile, MTUC also protested the transfer of 49 non-executive Hong Leong Bank employees from across the country to branches in Penang, Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur and the sacking of two Maybank employees who were also Nube members.    

According to Khalid, the ministry usually takes conflicts between employers and unions “lightly” instead of fulfilling its role as a middle person to bridge differences.

                            

NONE He said Section 9 of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 was not labour-friendly, as it allowed any application to form a union to be automatically resolved if the application was not recognised by the employers in 14 days.

As such, the MTUC urged amendments to the law, with both labour and employers being weighed equally, whereby a union will be automatically recognised if an employer fails to respond to an application within a given period.

It also called for secret ballots during union elections to be announced immediately to the unions, instead of making them wait for a letter from the ministry, which could take two to three months.

The congress also reiterated its call for minimum wage of RM900 and retirement age of 60 to be standardised for all companies, regardless of the location and industry, from Jan 1, 2014.