KUCHING: Some 1,500 employees from 13 banks will benefit from the new Collective Agreement (CA) signed between Sarawak Commercial Banks’ Association (SCBA) and Sarawak Bank Employees’ Union (SBEU) for the period between Jan 1, 2018 and Dec 31, 2020 at the Pullman Hotel here yesterday.
SCBA is a trade union for banking employers in Sarawak and members comprise 11 commercial banks and two Islamic banks, while SBEU is a trade union representing banking employees in the non-clerical and clerical grades employed in the state.
The agreement was signed between SCBA president David Ling Ee Kuong and secretary Nurudin Awi while SBEU was represented by its president Hadiah Leen and secretary-general Law Kiat Min.
In his opening remarks, Ling expressed his gratitude that both SCBA and SBEU had demonstrated full understanding and empathy in the CA negotiation process, which culminated in an amicable settlement.
“Under the new CA, member banks of SCBA will grant a salary adjustment of 12 percent and 10 percent respectively to all non-clerical and clerical employees, subject to the maximum salary in their respective salary ranges.
“Apart from the salary adjustment, the salary for the different employee groups covered by the CA will be raised by 12 percent to 16 percent with their maximum salary raised by 16 percent,” Ling said.
He added that the new remuneration package in the CA is one of the most competitive in the market in Sarawak and would be of great help in further uplifting the welfare and living standard of the lower-income banking employees.
The new CA also provides enhancement to a number of existing employment benefits, with an increase in monetary value of between 10 percent and 50 percent.
“Most of these existing benefits are designed to cater to the employee needs at different stages of life such as 10 working days’ marriage leave, reimbursement of delivery charges of up to RM1,500 for two confinements, child card subsidy of RM90 for employees with children of seven years old and below, free medical treatment for employees and a RM2,000 allocation each to cover medical expenses for eligible family members which they can also use to purchase hospitalisation and surgical insurance.
“EPF contribution by banks at 16 percent, staff loan to purchase houses, vehicles and other sundry items, festive advance, 30-day haj leave for Muslim employees who have completed 10 years of continuous service, PA insurance coverage of RM150,000, term life insurance coverage of RM60,000, a 30-day retirement leave upon retirement if an employee has served at least 25 years, and a sum of RM726 on reimbursement basis to purchase medical insurance for retiring employees,” he explained.
In addition, the new CA offers a range of new benefits which include a Disability Care Subsidy of RM100 per month for employees having a disabled child or spouse who is not gainfully employed, allowing pregnant employees to leave work one hour earlier from their 22nd week of pregnancy subject to certain conditions, extension of the existing 90-day paid maternity leave at the request of the employee for up to another 90 days on a half-pay basis, and a seven-working days pilgrimage leave for non-Muslim employees to enable them to perform their religious obligations according to their respective faiths. The same benefit is also extended to Muslim employers for performing umrah which will be set off against their haj leave allocation.
According to Ling, the most significant and major new benefit offered by the new CA is that all member banks have agreed to grant staff housing loan at zero percent interest rate for the first RM100,000 effective April 1, 2019.
The zero percent interest rate also applies to employees who have existing staff housing loans. This new benefit is to raise the disposable income of the employees – particularly those in the B40 category – and will also support the government’s effort to increase home ownership among low-income communities.
While the banks have agreed to provide an assortment of goodies and benefits to employees covered by SBEU, the union has also in return offered to the banks to empower their members to take on larger roles and functions.
This is aimed at keeping employees relevant in the fast changing business environment and in particular dealing with the challenges of non-clerical and clerical employees to sales and services non-executives.
Meanwhile, Malayan Commercial Banks’ Association president Nora Manaf who is also Maybank Group Human Capital Officer commended SCBA and SBEU for the successful renewal of the 15th CA and for collaborating effectively to bring about the desired changes to influence high work performance practices to positively impact organisational competitiveness and the nation’s economic development.
“Being agile and learning to work in new and different ways will certainly benefit both parties as we collectively navigate through the uncertain operating environment that lays ahead,” she added.
Present to witness the event was Human Resources Ministry secretary general Datuk Amir Omar.
