NUBE loses bid to summon minister as witness in festival aid dispute

 

Industrial Court chairman D Paramalingam ruled that the union failed to demonstrate that human resources minister Steven Sim’s testimony was essential to the case. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: 

The Industrial Court has dismissed an application by the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) to compel human resources minister Steven Sim to appear as a witness in a trade dispute over festival aid between the union and the Malayan Commercial Banks Association.

In his ruling, Industrial Court chairman D Paramalingam said the union failed to demonstrate that the minister was a material witness to the dispute.

“The union has not sufficiently shown how the minister played any role in the April 5, 2023 memorandum of agreement (MoA),” he said in his interim award delivered on Oct 28.

Paramalingam said the union’s application to subpoena Sim was an abuse of process, as the minister was never involved in the MoA, the central issue in the case before the court.

“To extract evidence from the minister regarding the payment of festival aid for 2024 would be going beyond the terms of reference, which are centred upon the validity of the MoA,” he said.

He said the trade dispute concerned festival aid given under last year’s MoA and whether its validity extended to future years.

Since this was the main issue, he said, it was the only matter the court would hear.

“The court cannot go on a frolic of its own to decide matters which are outside the scope of the April 16 (2024) reference,” he said.

Paramalingam also said Sim was not the minister when the MoA was negotiated and signed on April 5, 2023, having only assumed office on Dec 12 of the same year.

“As such, the court is unable to see how the evidence or testimony of the minister would contribute to the determination of the issue under reference,” he added.

He further said that the union was attempting a “fishing expedition” to bolster its proposal and/or counter-proposal for the 20th collective agreement regarding festival aid for 2024 and beyond, which falls outside the scope of the current dispute.

The collective agreement dispute is currently being reviewed by another division of the Industrial Court.

The union filed the application on Oct 1, requesting that Sim appear as a witness for a hearing scheduled on Oct 9, but the association objected.

N Sivabalah and Reena Embasegaran appeared for the association while Ravi Nekoo and Arvin Kumar Mohan represented the union.

The dispute over the festival aid followed unsuccessful conciliation efforts by the industrial relations department in February and March, leading to the referral of the case on April 16. - FMT