Workers resume picket of Malaysian banks

Workers resume picket of Malaysian banks

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Hundreds of bank workers resumed their noisy protest Monday after the banks' association failed to adhere to an advice by the government to deduct union fees from their members' salaries, a union leader said.

The demonstrators are members of the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) which is protesting the Malaysia Commercial Banks Association's move in October to stop deductions for union fees from their members' monthly salaries.

They picketed in front of two banks in downtown Kuala Lumpur, slowing down traffic as cars honked in support of protesters who blew whistles, sang songs and played hand-held drums.

Industrial demonstrations are rare in Malaysia.

Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn had last week advised the banks to remit the subscription deductions without further delay.

Union workers who staged protest for two days from last Thursday stopped their action following the minister's order.

"As a gesture to the minister's intervention we stopped. But the banks are not cooperating," NUBE general secretary Joseph Solomon told AFP.

The action of the private sector Public Bank Monday to lock out the workers at its headquarters building has further infuriated union members.

"The bank closed it doors and refused to allow the workers back after lunch. They are actually provoking us. One female worker was pushed to the ground by security guards. We have lodged a police report," Solomon said.

With the intervention by the police, the bank later allowed the workers back into their office, he said.

Solomon said: "We are coming here again tomorrow (Tuesday). Thousands of us are going to protest again. Our picket is legal and peaceful."

NUBE, which represents 27,000 bank workers, had said it would continue the picket daily until the deduction facility was restored.

"By stopping deduction of monthly union dues from members' salary, banks are denying employees their right to union membership and union representation," NUBE said in a statement last week.

This meant that all mechanisms to protect workers rights would become inoperative and "banks can hire, fire, demote and transfer employees unchallenged," it added.