20,000 bank workers to picket in KL

The protest will be held this Saturday, the first anniversary of a failed NUBE meeting with Najib.

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) expects 20,000 of its members to take part in a demonstration it has scheduled for this Saturday in downtown Kuala Lumpur.

The protest, billed as “Picket Daulat”, comes exactly a year after NUBE representatives had an inconclusive meeting with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to complain of local banks’ exploitation of workers.

NUBE chief J Solomon (photo) said in a press conference today that local banks were “unfairly exercising their financial muscle to actively compromise on the welfare of their workers and customers”.

Saturday’s picket is scheduled to start at 2.30pm. Solomon said bank workers from all over the country would converge on that part of Jalan Tun Perak where the Maybank and CIMB offices are located.

NUBE accuses Maybank, CIMB and Bank Muamalat of exploiting and abusing their workers as well as shortchanging their customers by overcharging them and pushing on them financial products they do not need or cannot afford.

Solomon also alleged that the banks practised racial discrimination in their dealings with customers and had been guilty of overworking pregnant employees and committing other abuses against women.

One of Picket Daulat’s main demands is a pay scale that is more equitable than the current rates.

Solomon said NUBE had compiled a record of violations by the banks of their collective agreements with the union. These breaches stretched back to 2011, he added.

He also said NUBE had pursued direct engagement with the banks, but added that this had reached an impasse.

He warned that there would be more demonstrations as long as the banks and the government continued to ignore NUBE’s grievances.

NUBE was established in 1958 and has about 30,000 nationwide.