KUCHING, June 11: The National Union of Bank Employees (Nube) urges the government to expedite the vaccination programme for the banking sector employees immediately as they are among the essential service frontliners.
According to the union general-secretary J. Solomon, Nube is upset that to date, banking services employees have not been listed as the frontline target group in obtaining Covid-19 vaccines although several letters on the matter have been submitted to agencies involved in the management of the vaccination programme since last March.
“We always appreciate the initiatives being taken by the government in conducting vaccination programmes and to achieve the herd immunity targets to curb the spread of Covid-19 and allow life to return to normal.
“It sure should not take months for the ministry and agencies involved to make a decision, as Malaysians need the banks for their day-to-day survival,” he said in a statement today.
Solomon noted, the Malaysian Association of Commercial Banks (MCBA) has written a letter to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (Mosti) in mid-March and was informed that Mosti would consider the request for banking employees to be given priority.
He said following the MCBA request to Mosti, Nube wrote a letter to the ministry in May, and was informed that Nube’s request had been extended to the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).
“On June 2, 2021, Nube had informed MITI that the banking sector had supplied a list of names of the employees involved as requested, but to date there has been no response from the Ministry,” he added.
Solomon emphasised that Nube is ready to provide full cooperation and support the vaccination programme that has been initiated by the government, but their efforts in obtaining confirmation from the government agencies involved seem to be too slow.
He pointed out such actions are detrimental to the health and safety of not only employees but also their families and customers.
“Therefore, we urge the government to expedite our request by also prioritising banking sector employees in the list to obtain early-stage vaccination,” he said.
Solomon also assured that Nube stands ready to help mobilise bank employees including its members to achieve the targets set by the government.
Therefore, he said, the promise to prioritise the front line in the banking sector, which was one of the key sectors during the current Movement Control Order (PKP) 3.0, must be fulfilled immediately. — DayakDaily
