Some 36,000 bank employees will have more than a thousand reasons to be jolly ti's season, thanks to their union.

A Collective Agreement (CA) inked today by The National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) and the Malaysian Commercial Banks Association (MCBA) will see employees from 24 banks receiving lump sump payments between RM4,000 and RM10,000 for 42 months in arrears.

Negotiations for the CA, stalled by a protracted feud in NUBE, was resumed in August.

It's secretary-general J Solomon, when met after the signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, attributed the speedy conclusion to the union's newfound unity

"When we went on a roadshow (of all nine NUBE branches in the peninsula) we only saw one union," he added.

Unity-forging activities

The crisis in NUBE saw a long-standing court battle between two factions claiming legitimate leadership.

Today marked NUBE's first landmark achievement since the new leadership, led by president Abdul Jalil Abdul Hamid, emerged victorious in a court-ordered re-election in July.

According to Solomon, the union has several other unity-forging activities in the pipeline such as 'solidarity workshops' and 'NUBE badge wearing month'.

The CA also touched on a five-day working week proposal, which is pending approval from the government.

Apart from this, a code of conduct on work place sexual harassment was also agreed upon.