NUBE MEDIA STATEMENT

NUBE URGES GOVERNMENT TO ACCELERATE COVID-19 VACCINATION FOR THE FRONTLINERS OF THE BANKING SECTOR

1. 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 frontliners on the nation.

2. NUBE is upset that to date, banking services employees have not been listed as the frontline target group in obtaining anti-vaccine injections although several letters of application and request have been submitted to agencies involved in vaccination programme management since last March.

3. The Malaysian Association of Commercial Banks (MCBA) wrote a letter to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI) in mid-March. The Association has been informed that MOSTI would consider the request for banking employees to be given priority.

4. Following the MCBA request to the MOSTI, subsequently NUBE had wrote a letter to the MOSTI 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).

5. On 2 June 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.

6. We always appreciate the initiatives being taken by the Government in conducting vaccination programmes and to achieve the herd immunity targets involving Malaysians by receiving COVID-19 vaccination, thus curbing the spread of COVID-19 at large.

7. Unfortunately, our request in the matter, which for many months has not received a positive result and thus, we are disappointed with the lack of proactive actions on all our requests until today.

8. Once again, NUBE would like to emphasize that NUBE is ready to provide full cooperation and support on the vaccination programme that has been initiated by the Government, but our efforts in obtaining confirmation from the Government agencies involved seem to be too slow.

9. Such actions are detrimental to the health and safety of not only employees but also their families who are the frontliners of the banking sector, who have been categorised as essential services and ready to serve the public and their families.

10. Therefore, we urge the Government to expedite our request by also prioritizing banking sector employees in the list to obtain early-stage vaccination.

11. NUBE stands ready to help mobilise bank employees including our members to achieve the targets set by the Government. Therefore, 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.

J SOLOMON

GENERAL SECRETARY

NATIONAL UNION OF BANK EMPLOYEES (NUBE)

10 JUNE 2021