ADUN SPEAKS | Businesses that suffer from a loss of business, which results in job losses, are maybe normal under the current climate, but many bank employees are facing the axe while their employers record profits and their CEOs are paid millions in salary and bonuses.

A recent report by consultancy firm Roland Berger estimated the closure of 567 bank branches in Malaysia within the decade. This followed one of the largest banks in Malaysia announcing it will be shutting 13 of its branches nationwide by the end of 2021.

Another local bank has closed down six branches thus far with another six more planned within the next two months. While profits for the year 2020 were reported in the billions, branches and retrenchments were not spared to further cut cost for the sake of profit even under the healthcare, economic and political triple-crisis that our nation is facing.

National Union of Bank Employees (Nube) issued a statement earlier, protesting that banks are downsizing under “grossly unfair terms” as voluntary separation scheme (VSS) and mutual separation scheme (MSS) were carried out that could affect more than 600 employees.

Despite pleas made to both Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Human Resource Ministry, all seem to have fallen on deaf ears. It would seem that axes either already have or are inevitably going to fall on the future security and livelihoods of hundreds and maybe thousands of bank staff.

To some, this may just be an inconvenient closure of their local bank branch, but those truly affected are the ones being laid off. Many were already B40 (bottom 40 percent of income earners). Others who were already teetering at the bottom of M40 had been given an express ticket to the B40.

It is even more sickening when CEOs of many banks are still raking in millions of ringgit in annual remunerations, topping their own record for the previous year. Some are even getting incentives linked directly to 'lowering of overheads' achieved from VSS, MSS and straight-up elimination of redundancies.

In other words, CEOs are getting paid to create more unemployment. How can this be allowed? Wouldn't it make more sense to cut the pay of CEOs and those with much higher pay, than to cull jobs?

The stewardship - or lack thereof - of the failed Perikatan Nasional government has unequivocally failed in containing the pandemic. As if the economic shutdown and the government’s tepid fiscal response that left many working-class Malaysians high and dry was not enough, allowing banks to take such heinous and cruel options to further benefit bankers and their shareholders is nothing less than sacrificing already injured prey to gift an all-powerful predator.

What happened to the prime minister’s commitment that workers’ welfare will be taken care of and no layoffs will be allowed after introducing the Wage Subsidy Programme? Or was it yet another lip service talking point to cover up the government’s blindness and failure to see the sufferings of ordinary Malaysians?

The argument that the government has no legal power to intervene with private bank decisions to downsize is simply not acceptable. All bank branch closures must first obtain the approval of Bank Negara Malaysia. After all, the government proclaimed a state of emergency to centralise and turbocharge executive powers, under the pretense that power needs to be wielded to precisely handle issues like this.

With the continually maturing technology of e-banking and the growth of bank users’ prevalence to go digital, banks should be cross-training and up-skilling existing employees to transition towards meeting future service demands.

Axing staff in the name of business efficiency and profitability, especially during these times is both inhumane and unscrupulous. I urge the government to come up with a proper and better plan to immediately intervene.

It is sad that this government has once again proven that their priorities lie on the protection of banks to continue reaping profits, and not on the protection of workers and ordinary Malaysians.

HOWARD LEE is the state assemblyperson for Pasir Pinji in Perak and the DAP Socialist Youth national chief.