THE National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) wants the Penang State Government to be wary of the notoriety of HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd (HSBC) as it attempts to defend itself in relation to the trade union body urging the state government to cease dealings with the global bank.
Given that HSBC has committed many acts that amount to betrayal of trust that cannot be condoned, NUBE’s secretary-general J. Solomon expressed surprise as to why the Malaysian Governments is still condoning the former’s action.
He described HSBC’s claim that it would continue to collaborate with all trade unions, including NUBE, to understand if there were further avenues to support bank employees as “utter hypocrisy”.
“This is a misrepresentation when there is a long list of cheating and exploitation (cases) at international courts as well as disputes which the bank has been avoiding to engage trade union by abusing their absolute power,” Solomon pointed out.
“Unfortunately, both the state and Federal Government seems to be protecting their injustices. HSBC is even avoiding a collective agreement (CA) for only 100 employees, many of whom are B40 and M40 workers.”
Moreover, Solomon exposed that HSBC has carried out repeated retrenchment exercises under the guise of voluntary separation scheme (VSS) and mutual separation scheme (MSS) since 2017, refusing negotiation on the fate of workers who do not want the VSS/MSS.
“HSBC is ignoring the code of conduct for industrial harmony and denying workers especially those in the B40 and M40 categories their fundamental right to livelihood when the country was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic,” he lamented.
“Abusing their powers by using customers’ money and the Government to conduct union busting seem to be their understanding of continuing to collaborate with all trade unions.”
According to Solomon, HSBC’s blatant breach of international conventions and human rights has led NUBE to refer HSBC’s discrimination and persecution cases to courts in Malaysia as well as international bodies, including the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
“The issue was taken to the Malaysian courts and global stage when almost all the Malaysian government agencies who are entrusted to protect labour force abuses failed to perform their statutory functions to protect the vulnerable workers,” noted Solomon.
In urging the Government to be firm in this matter, he stressed that both the state and Federal Government need to have a political will and commitment to bring in quality investors who are willing to look after the interest of local workers instead of merely eyeing profits.
“If the Government is willing to accept the demands and conditions imposed by foreign countries in order to bring in foreign workers to Malaysia, why don’t we impose the same conditions in safeguarding the interests of local workers when approving foreign investments?” asked Solomon. – Feb 14, 2022
