KUALA LUMPUR: The National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) will go ahead with its picket today despite a plea from the Malaysian Commercial Banks Association (MCBA) to call it off.
More than 20,000 NUBE members from all over the country are expected to join the picket scheduled to start at 2pm.
The picket will be held along the Maybank and CIMB outlets on Jalan Tun Perak here.
“MCBA has no legal standing to demand that the union call off the picket. In fact, this call is illegal; it runs foul of Section 4 of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 that safeguards employees from intimidation by employers from participation in trade union activities.
“The law states that employers shall not interfere with the work of the union in activities related to the welfare of union members,” NUBE general-secretary J Solomon (photo) said in a statement.
He said that it is the MCBA which is conducting itself illegally.
“This includes the continued incursions into the well-being of our members by their respective employers,” he said.
Solomon also countered MCBA’s allegation that NUBE has not followed proper procedures to communicate with the banks to address the issues raised.
“Numerous correspondences are ignored. At times when NUBE officials have meetings with bank management, we see that they are not serious, and neither are they interested in a fair dialogue. These discussions always ended in a stalemate.
“This has led to legal action in courts. This process is not only lengthy and costly to the union, but it is benefiting the banks since they have the financial clout to bear such expenses,” he said.
“During the four months since then, there has been no communication with MCBA. We are surprised to hear from the MCBA now on the day of the national picket.”
NUBE insisted that all the pickets, including the one to be held today, are legal as provided for under the laws governing trade union activities.
“Our members have conducted themselves peacefully and ethically with full sense of etiquette… any allegation by the MCBA that our pickets cause a great inconvenience to the public and bank customers is a most mischievous charge.”
“It is also wrong for the banks to charge that our picket is inconveniencing customers, when in fact some of the key issues that we are raising are to safeguard the interests of all bank customers from the unfair trade activities of the banks that have caused many to suffer from exceedingly high bank charges from fees, interests and penalties,” said Solomon.
The national picket to be held today is the culmination of a series of pickets held at various branches around the country since December 2012.
