THE National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) today lodged police reports across the country against HSBC Malaysia Bhd CEO Stuart Milne, alleging the latter of laying off his employees under the guise of Voluntary and Mutual Separation Scheme (VSS/MSS).
“On May 18 last year, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong urged employers not to retrench their workers indiscriminately due to the rising number of COVID-19 infections.
“Despite the Agong’s decree, HSBC has shown no regard to the right of livelihood of workers, guaranteed under the Federal Constitution and has proceeded to act in contravention to it,” its general secretary J Solomon said in a statement.
Elaborating on the matter, Solomon said that on June 3, Milne had announced a retrenchment scheme under the guise of VSS/MSS, as a result of arbitrary outsourcing/insourcing of the non-executive functions.
He claimed that the top executive had also closed profit-making branches, without any negotiations with NUBE.
“It’s obligatory for an employer to negotiate with the union to avoid irresponsible employers from cheating its workers. Apparently, HSBC Bank rushed to deal directly with the workers, without prior negotiation with us.
“I believe this is done to shortchange and deceive employees. Some of the workers have served more than 30 years in HSBC and were shocked with the announcement, especially when the bank is making continuous profit,” Solomon claimed.
The veteran unionist also said that it was appalling that when all these were happening, HSBC announced that it was spending about RM1.3 bil to embark on digitalising its services.
“It looks like Collective Agreements, the Industrial Relations Act 1967, the Employment Act 1955 and our Rukunegara don’t work against digitised mercenaries like HSBC, which believes that cash is king,” Solomon remarked. – July 8, 2021
