Commercial Banks conclude new CAs with Officers Union & Sabah, Sarawak Bank Employee Unions
– Landmark provisions incorporated into Sarawak Collective Agreement
More than 8,000 members of the Sarawak Bank Employees’ Union (SBEU Sarawak), Sabah Banking Employees’ Union (SBEU Sabah) as well as the Association of Bank Officers (ABOM) can look forward to higher remuneration and better benefits following the recent conclusion of their collective agreements (CA) with their respective Commercial Banks’ Associations. The new CAs will be in effect for the period 2012—2014.
The revised CAs provide an across the board salary adjustment at a minimum 10% (subject to the maximum salary point). This and other agreed terms are by all standards generous. The minimum and maximum basic salaries were also raised by not less than 10%.
The agreements also include a 2 months’ guaranteed contractual bonus except for employees under the collective agreements with ABOM and SBEU Sarawak. These two unions had agreed, since 2009 and 2006 respectively, to incorporate the 2-month contractual bonus into the employees’ basic salary and for the employees thereafter to be paid discretionary bonuses based on the performance of the bank and employee.
In addition, banks will pay a Regional Allowance of 15% to 22.5% of the basic salary for all non-clerical and clerical employees in East Malaysia as part of their monthly wages. In Peninsular Malaysia, banks pay COLA between RM100 to RM150 per month to all clerical and non-clerical employees.
Speaking on the negotiations, the President of the Malayan Commercial Banks Association (MCBA) Nora Abdul Manaf commended the professionalism and constructive engagement demonstrated by the teams from the three unions and the banks, which culminated in the amicable conclusion of the CAs.
“The conclusion of collective agreements reflects the cordial relationship we enjoy which are premised on constructive engagement, mutual respect and reasonableness,” she said.
She said that the wage rates granted under the three CAs were competitive and market leading rates. Employees also enjoy a slew of many other allowances which have been adjusted upward by about 8% to 11%.
With the new agreement, a clerk recruited without prior working experience at entry level is already paid close to the minimum market rate for a basic degree holder without prior working experience as detailed in the MEF Salary Survey for Executives 2012. In addition, all non-clerical and clerical employees are entitled to claim overtime regardless of their wage levels. The same benefit of overtime entitlement is extended to officers under the collective agreement with ABOM except that the maximum overtime rate is computed at RM2,000 if the officer’s monthly wage exceeds RM2,000.
Nora explained that a notable feature of the new CAs was a landmark provision in the agreement between the Sarawak Commercial Banks’ Association (SCBA Sarawak) and SBEU Sarawak where members had agreed to accept job enlargement and empowerment, in return for a higher salary increase and potentially better bonus.
“The position taken by SBEU Sarawak is highly commended as more often than not, most negotiations for CAs focus merely on wage and benefit increases without the accompanying tangible value-add proposals,” she remarked.
As a result of the above agreement, Nora added, SBEU Sarawak provided a clear platform for banks to further enhance performance and productivity. In return, the earning capacity of the employees was significantly raised besides having the opportunity for employees to further upgrade their skills. Under the collective agreement, these rewards to the employees come in the form of higher salary adjustment, extra annual increment, payment of ex-gratia, revision of minimum retirement age from 55 years to 60 years even before coming into force the Minimum Retirement Age Act.
“The employees covered by the Sarawak collective agreement will enjoy salary increases of 12% to 17%, ranging from RM202 to RM824 extra a month. In addition, performing members have received up to 4.5 months (discretionary) performance bonus based on the performance of the banks and the employee.” remarked the President of SBEU Sarawak, Ms. Hadiah Binti Leen.
There are currently four national banking employees’ trade unions in the country, besides other in-house banking trade unions whose scope of representation is confined only to employees of individual banks.
At the industry level, banking employees in the clerical and non-clerical categories are represented by three national unions, namely National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE), SBEU Sabah and SBEU Sarawak. ABOM is a national union that represents primarily the Class II officers in the executive capacity in Peninsular Malaysia only. Traditionally, new recruits with a diploma and clerks on promotion will be placed in the Class II officer grade.
Banks operating in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak are represented by MCBA, SCBA Sabah and SCBA Sarawak respectively, which are registered as trade unions for banking employers under the Trade Union Act.
With these three CAs concluded, the only outstanding CA is with NUBE, which has been referred to the Industrial Court for arbitration.