By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Oct 11: The National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) has called on the Finance Ministry and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to introduce the necessary laws that protect the livelihood of bank employees in the B40 and M40 income groups.
NUBE secretary general J Solomon in a statement said those groups of employees are most impacted when the National Digital Economy Master Plan is being implemented by the federal government.
He also urges the federal government to carry out meaningful and effective consultations with employees before implementing the National Digital Economy Master Plan.
“It has been reported that the increasing use of technological advancements could see Malaysia lose 65 per cent of current jobs by 2027.
“Certain industries, such as the banking sector, are undergoing large scale digitisation of their operations.
“They are therefore prone to reduce their workforce. This has an adverse effect on low and middle‐skilled workers,” he said today.
Solomon added NUBE regretted that the Finance Ministry did not announce any comprehensive policy to protect the job security and livelihood of employees in the banking and the financial services sector as Malaysia embarks on more robust policies to expand the use of fintech in boosting the digital economy.
Thus, Solomon said NUBE calls on the federal government to take cognisance of a joint study by Workday and International Data Corporation which revealed that 43 per cent of Malaysians feared that they will lose their jobs due to digitalisation and view it as a threat to their employment.
He added NUBE also urges the federal government and BNM to encourage employers to offer workers appropriate training to ensure continuous skills adaptation as an approach to ensure workers are adapting to different sets of skills. —DayakDaily
