The National Union of Bank Employees (Nube) has claimed that the Human Resources Ministry is promoting union busting and denying justice in trade dispute cases.

According to Nube general secretary J Solomon, some high-ranking officers in the ministry are accomplices in dismissing claims by employees in the banking industry.

j solomon nube sec gen 290806 calm "Based on the Industrial Relations Act 1967, there is a provision that necessitates the ministry to refer any trade dispute or dismissal case to the industrial court," he said in a statement.

This, he said, is to avoid small cases taking up the time of the courts.

However, Solomon said recent cases by unions and workers have not been referred to the industrial court for no good reason.

"Therefore, we (the union) have to cough out expenses for an application for judicial review at the high court," he added.

Solomon claimed that the denial of justice is a planned and calculated move to discourage workers from seeking individual redress as it can prove to be too costly especially when they have just been dismissed.

"We also believe that the employers are using this ploy to deplete the coffers of trade unions to weaken our movement," he said.

Dangerous trend

He further cited a recent example where the ministry did not refer a case of union busting to the industrial court.

"Last week, a foreign bank practised union busting tactics by changing the clerical designation to an officer designation whilst the employee continues to perform clerical functions," he said in a press statement.

Solomon also revealed two cases concerning the non-payment of performance bonus involving two banks which is EON Bank Bhd and RHB Bank Bhd that affects more than 4,000 members.

"The case was referred to the ministry but only one conciliation meeting took place, and the rest of the cases were denied reference to the industrial court.

"This seems to be a dangerous trend and is causing great injustice," he said.

Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam is overseas and could not be reached for comments.