PETALING JAYA | A union has declared a trade dispute against a multinational bank following alleged outsourcing exercises which has led to locals losing their jobs.
The National Union of Bank Employees said it has already filed 12 cases regarding its members who it claims were arbitrarily removed from their jobs “and were made redundant” due to outsourcing manoeuvres.
The union’s general secretary, J Solomon, accused the bank of having broken Malaysian laws and of breaching the collective agreement with its employees.
The bank had “unabashedly” used the conditional movement control order (CMCO) and the Work From Home policy to its advantage in carrying out the outsourcing exercise, he said.
Solomon said bank staff were told to remain at home on “standby” while their tasks were taken over by supervisors and senior management personnel in the process of outsourcing.
By doing so, the bank could claim it was able to work with fewer staff, laying the grounds for retrenchment.
Solomon said the union had sought clarification several times but the management had given “half-baked answers at best”, rebuffed their efforts, and failed to turn up for meetings it agreed to attend.
The bank had even spurned the efforts of the Malaysian Commercial Banks Association to mediate, he said.
“This belligerent stand has left NUBE with no choice but to declare a trade dispute against the bank, in accordance with the Industrial Relations Act”, which would enable the union to take any action necessary to protect the jobs of its members.
Solomon urged the finance and human resources ministries as well as Bank Negara to investigate the UK-based bank.
