National Union of Bank Employees has lodged a second police report against Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong, after an earlier one was lodged in April for abuse of power.
The report, NUBE said is for the Minister to have unilaterally without union’s knowledge or consent met with the management of the bank and discussed the Festival Aid 2024 payment which was not in favour of bank workers.
The second report it alleged is when Sim abused his powers by referring the dispute between NUBE and the Malayan Commercial Banks’ Association (MCBA) to the Industrial Court though the Minister was aware that the dispute was still under conciliation with the Director General of Industrial Relations (DGIR).
NUBE said it attended two conciliation meetings at the Industrial Relations Department on March 21, 2024 and March 27, 2024. At the March 27, 2024 meeting chaired by the DGIR, NUBE was informed that this matter would be continued with a subsequent meeting as there was still space for discussions in reaching a settlement.
On April 18, 2024 (the same day NUBE lodged the first police report), NUBE said it received an email dated April 18, 2024, at 2.54 pm from the Industrial Court, stating that the dispute is now referred to the Industrial Court.
NUBE said it was shocked, as on March 27, 2024, NUBE was informed by the DGIR that there was still space for discussion to settle the dispute. The DGIR knew MCBA had not exhausted its internal remedies on the dispute.
According to the union, a dispute is only referred to the Industrial Court if the conciliation has reached a “deadlock” between the parties. In such a case, the DGIR’s office would inform the parties that the matter would be referred to the Industrial Court. However, the DGIR would not do so if the internal remedies were not exhausted.
In this case, NUBE said it was not informed by the DGIR’s office that the matter was referred to the Industrial Court. NUBE was only aware that the dispute was referred to the Industrial Court when it received an email from the Industrial Court on 18 April 2024. NUBE only received a copy of the said letter by registered post on April 24, 2024, which is unusual as usually all correspondences are by email.
