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UOB workers may stage another strike by end of April

Thousands of UOB Buana workers may stage another strike by the end of this April as no solutions have been reached with the bank's management over their demands

Ika Krismantari (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, April 21, 2009

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UOB workers may stage another strike by end of April

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housands of UOB Buana workers may stage another strike by the end of this April as no solutions have been reached with the bank's management over their demands.

"We plan another strike. It may happen by late April as we need to send notification to the management and the related ministry," UOB labor union secretary general Endang Sutisna told The Jakarta Post over the phone during the weekend.

Under existing regulations, trade unions planning for a strike are required to send a notification letter to the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry and to their management 7 days before the action is planned to actually takes place.

Endang said that the decision for another strike was taken after the latest meeting with the bank, a local subsidiary of Singapore-based United Overseas Bank Ltd, had failed to reach an agreement.

He said that the top management in Singapore had not answered the workers' demands.

"They first offered Rp 2.9 billion (US$272,600) to pay our bonuses and pay rise, but we rejected it. Then, they came up with a new offer of Rp 5 billion, but we still cannot accept it because it is still far below our demand of Rp 12.5 billion," Endang said.

The planned strike will be the follow-up to the first strike that was launched on April 6-8 over the workers' demands for a pay rise and annual bonus payment.

At least 4,000 workers from 23 branch offices joined the strike, disrupting most of the bank's operations, with most branches providing only limited services to customers.

Currently, UOB employs 5,800 workers and operates 35 branches nationally.

Endang said that he had not heard of any plans from the management to have another round of talks with the workers.

He also said that the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry had not interfered in the dialogue between the two parties, leaving the decisions to both sides.

Previously, the ministry acted as a mediator in negotiations between the management and the union, but in the end it left both parties to settle the problem themselves.

UOB director for human resources Pardi Kendi, who represented the management in the last meeting, did not answer short messages and calls asking for confirmation of this.

Meanwhile, UOB Buana director for corporate services Safrullah Hadi Saleh said that he did know about the union's plan to stage another strike.

The management has so far been reluctant to grant the workers' demands, partly because the banking industry, domestic and elsewhere, has been severely hit by the global economic crisis, forcing the bank to conserve cash and limit cash flow.

However, the mid-sized bank's latest financial results show that UOB posted a net profit before tax of Rp 179.3 billion (US$15.9 million) in the first quarter of 2009, an increase from Rp 112.65 billion in the same period of last year.

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