WITH the possibility of international arbitration underway, HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd (HSBC Malaysia) said that it would wait until local legal and judicial process are concluded before looking into separate mediation process.
“Some of the issues raised by the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) to the UK National Contact Point (UK NCP) is currently being reviewed by Malaysian courts and the Human Resources Ministry (MOHE) and we will continue to respect applicable legal and legislative process.
“As such, we feel it is appropriate – and in the best interests of all parties – to conclude existing Malaysia-based mediation and judicial review before embarking on further and separate mediation,” it said in a statement to FocusM.
Yesterday, NUBE said that the UK NCP had decided to accept some of its complaints against HSBC.
NUBE, with the backing of UNI Global Union, said the UK NCP would pursue the matter for further examination or mediation.
“UNI Global Union and I will cooperate with UK NCP and we are optimistic that a constructive decision will be made in the best interest of NUBE members and all bank employees in Malaysia,” its secretary general J Solomon was reported saying.
UK NCP is a British agency responsible for promoting Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines for multinational enterprises on responsible business conduct and operating complaints mechanism set out in the guidelines.
Elaborating on the changes it was making, HSBC Malaysia said the policy would create more than 200 roles and was in the midst of redeploying employees to take up the new positions.
“Where redeployment is not sought by the staff affected, we offer them above-market voluntary separation scheme, on top of job transition training and outplacement support,” it noted.
According to UK NCP website, the agency stated that it had decided to probe some of the complaints made against HSBC Malaysia following its initial assessment process.
However, it also took into account HSBC Malaysia’s argument that it would focus on exhausting all legal options locally before pursuing other matters.
“The UK NCP note that there has already been considerable engagement between the parties involved in the specific instance.
“The UK NCP has considered the information provided by the complainants and believe it would serve the purpose and effectiveness of our Guidelines to further examine the issues within the remits of the Guidelines to assist the parties to come to a resolution,” it stated.
Following that, UK NCP would formally ask the parties involved whether they would be willing to engage in mediation to resolve the issues raised.
“If these meetings achieve a resolution, the UK NCP will reflect this in a final statement without making a determination on whether the enterprise acted consistently with the guidelines.
“But if a mediated/conciliated solution is not possible, the UK NCP will conduct a further examination into the issues and will reflect the outcome in a final statement that will include a determination on whether HSBC Malaysia acted consistently with the OECD Guidelines,” it remarked. – Sept 20, 2021
