The workers of UOB Buana Bank will wait until April 15 to facilitate consultations, but may then launch another strike unless the bank’s parent company, Singapore-based United Overseas Bank Ltd, agrees to demands for pay rises and bonuses.
“If they (the head office) refuse to grant our demands, we will set another strike,” UOB labor union secretary general Endang Sutisna told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
The UOB Buana labor union launched a three-day strike since Monday, disrupting the bank’s operations nationwide with 4,000 workers from 23 branches joining in.
Currently, mid-size UOB Buana Bank employs 5,800 workers and operates 35 branches nationally.
Endang said that during the bilateral meeting late Tuesday, which was facilitated by the Transmigration and Manpower Ministry, the management had requested the union to give the bank the opportunity to discuss the matter with the Singapore UOB up until April 15.
“As we come with a good intention, we accepted the proposal, even though we are disappointed because our requests could not be granted during the meeting,” Endang said.
The dead-locked meeting provoked some UOB Buana workers to continue their strike action, albeit on a smaller scale.
Endang said the workers would be back again for work on Monday (April 13) but with the possibility of staging another strike after April 15 if there was no settlement of the workers’ demands.
Offices are closed Thursday and Friday for the legislative elections and Easter holidays.
UOB Bauna director for corporate services Safrullah Hadi Saleh could not be reached for comment.
The Manpower and Transmigration Ministry’s director for industrial disputes settlement, Gandi Sugandi confirmed that settlement of the dispute between the UOB Buana management and workers was still pending a decision from UOB top management in Singapore.
He also said that even though the management had not bowed yet to the demand on pay rise and bonuses, the Tuesday meeting had resolved two things related to company pension funds and on promotion for contractual workers.
Gandi said management agreed to promote contractual workers only if they were aged less than 45 years old and had performance indices of at least three, on a one to five scale.
The management also agreed to add Rp 10.5 billion (US$923,077) to the existing Rp 400 billion in pension funds. However, the requested pay rise and bonuses at the nub of the dispute could not be granted, according to management, because the bank needed to conserve cash to cope with the impact of the global economic slowdown, Gandi said.
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