Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 392, October 2020

Case No 2850 (Malaysia) - Complaint date: 08-APR-11 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body

1. 92. The Committee last examined this case (submitted in April 2011) at its June 2015 meeting [see 375th Report, paras 56–60]. On that occasion, the Committee expressed the firm hope that the pending proceedings relating to the allegations of harassment and intimidation of the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) officials by the Malayan Banking Berhard (the Bank) security guards and by the police, and the pending cases relating to the anti-union dismissals of the NUBE Vice-President, Mr Abdul Jamil Jalaludeen, and the Treasurer-General, Mr Chen Ka Fatt, would be concluded without further delay. It requested the Government to provide the relevant judgments and to respond in detail to the May 2015 communication from the NUBE, in which it denounced lengthy delays in the legal system, indicating that concrete cases of assaults and anti-union dismissals from 2012 were yet to be heard, as well as the lack of available mechanisms for redress and remedy.
2. 93. The Government provides its observations in a communication dated 10 September 2019. It indicates, with regard to the NUBE’s complaint on the registration of a new in-house union (an allegation previously examined by the Committee), that the in-house union’s appeal was dismissed by the Federal Court in March 2017 and its registration has been cancelled. Concerning the complaint on the trade union dispute made by the NUBE under section 8(2A) of the Industrial Relations Act, the Government indicates that it had been referred by the Minister of Human Resources to the Industrial Court in June 2012 but the union withdrew its claims against the Bank in October 2016. According to the Government, both parties were represented during the hearing by their respective counsel and are aware of the court’s decision. Accordingly, the Government considers that the case should be closed.
3. 94. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government. With regard to the NUBE’s challenge of the registration of the in-house union, the Committee understands that this issue was resolved by the Federal Court in March 2017 in favour of the NUBE and that the registration of the in-house union has been cancelled. The Committee further notes the Government’s indication that the NUBE withdrew its claims against the Bank in the context of the complaint on the trade union dispute filed under section 8(2A) of the Industrial Relations Act. In these circumstances and given that it has not received any updated information from the complainant since 2015, the Committee considers this case closed and will not pursue its examination.