20 October 2013
PRESS RELEASE
Contact person:
REGINALD RICOHERMOSO
09278615220
Maybank Employees Gear for Strike
The three-hundred and sixty-nine strong national employees union of Maybank may be forced to go on strike in the following days if the bank’s management refuses to heed the demands of the labor union. Maybank, an international bank with a main office based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has sixty-five branches nationwide. The union complains that bank management has refused to implement a provision on performance bonuses stipulated in their collective bargaining agreement.
According to Regie Ricohermoso, union president of Maybank Employees Union, “The continued non-implementation of the performance bonus provision is a direct violation of the collective bargaining agreement on the part of the management”.
The union filed a Notice of strike last June 3 before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), but representatives of bank President Ferminio M. Famatigan Jr. refused to budge in all the conciliation meetings facilitated by the NCMB.
The union leader likewise added that, “The management’s blind refusal is forcing us to take drastic steps for them to realize that we are serious with our demands”.
Ricohermoso also complained that instead of heeding union demands to preserve industrial peace in the financial institution, the union has been suffering continued harassment. “Even our employees’ cooperative is subject to their aggravation, Mr. Famatigan’s minions have also taken away our right to use bank facilities for our activities, also a violation of the collective bargaining agreement,” he said.
In compliance with the Labor Code, the union shall be holding their nationwide strike vote on October 22 at October 23. The strike vote shall be facilitated by representatives of the DOLE despite of the pronouncement made by bank officials that shall not cooperate in holding a peaceful strike referendum.
In solidarity with the embattled Maybank employees, Gie Relova, Secretary-General of the militant Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino - National Capital Region-Rizal chapter (BMP-NCRR) said that, “The outright non-compliance of a public contract by Maybank execs shows only how little respect the bank management has for those who dedicated their lives and sacrificed so much to make Maybank what it is today”.
The BMP leader says that it shall muster and mobilize its affiliates in support to the union until management heed the workers’ demands.###
