PUTRAJAYA should intervene and order a stop to unilateral outsourcing by banks, said the National Union of Bank Employees (Nube) in conjunction with International Day of Banks today.

Nube secretary-general J. Solomon said the government’s failure to protect the union and its members against violation and the abuse of their trade union rights by recalcitrant banks is worrying. 

“Nube expresses its deep concern on the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Outsourcing Policy 2019 issued on October 23, 2019.

“BNM had acted unilaterally in drawing up this policy, without considering the livelihood of bottom 40 and middle 40 workers, and without consulting Nube, who are key stakeholders in this matter.

“On this special day for the industry, we urge the Finance and Human Resources Ministries, as well as BNM, to stop the unilateral outsourcing,” Solomon said in a statement today. 

He added that banks should engage with Nube on any outsourcing exercise involving its workers. 

He said banks have shamelessly used the movement-control order and the work-from-home policy to its advantage in carrying out the outsourcing exercise. 

“The bank executed this outsourcing of jobs when the workers were told to stay at home during the MCO.  

“This is how banks treat workers who have faithfully served them for more than 30 years. It has taken advantage of the pandemic crisis to rob the workers of their jobs,” he said. 

Solomon said Nube had repeatedly reached out to banks to discuss a road map to retrain or reskill workers affected by the decision, but claimed the response has been very disappointing. 

On this special day, Solomon said he hopes authorities will listen to their pleas. – December 3, 2020.