Court orders fresh polls for troubled NUBE

This marks the end of a four-year power struggle which was fought both in and
outside the court, for control of the banking sector’s union – once the wealthiest
and best-run trade union in the country.
<p>Justices Denis Ong, the presiding judge and Tengku Baharudin Shah Tengku Mahmud
and S Augustine Paul, who made up the three-member bench, ordered for the polls
to be conducted within four months.</p>
<p>The order effectively overturns a court ruling late last year that the Trade
Unions Act 1959 does not empower the DGTU – the head of trade union affairs
– to order fresh polls.</p>
<p>Both NUBE factions, led by Abdul Jalil Hamid and Muhammad Fauzi Shamsuddin,
had earlier agreed to resolve their dispute by holding an election. The union
split into two factions in 2001 with both groups claiming to be the legitimate
leadership of the union.</p>
<p>However, the feuding factions could not agree on who should conduct the elections,
and had filed a spate of law suits against each other.</p>
<p>To break the deadlock, a 20-member caretaker committee comprising ordinary
members of the union was later established under the auspices of the Malaysian
Trade Unions Congress.</p>
<p><b>Four-year dispute</b></p>
<p>Given the DGTU’s reluctance to conduct fresh polls after citing the law, the
caretaker committee decided to get the court to compel the director-general
to do so.</p>
<p>On Dec 14, the High Court (Appellate and Special Powers Division) dismissed
the application on grounds that the Trade Unions Act was silent on the DGTU’s
powers to call for an election. Justice Raus Sharif had described the application
as an ‘abuse of process’. </p>
<p>Counsel for the caretaker committee Ambiga Sreenevasan was unavailable for
comment on today’s decision.</p>
<p>When contacted, R Sivarasa, counsel for Abdul Jalil’s group, said the order
would require the DGTU to announce the election results immediately.</p>
<p>&quot;This is to enable the new exco to take over the legitimate leadership
of the NUBE. In the meantime, neither group is allowed exercise their function
as union officials,&quot; he told malaysiakini this evening.</p>
<p>&quot;Finally, we see a resolution to this four-year dispute and the 28,000
members will get to decide on their leadership. We hope the DGTU will behave
impartially and run a free and fair election.&quot;</p>
<p>The union’s other faction leader Muhammad Fauzi could not be reached for comment.</p>
<p><b>Minister backs decision</b></p>
<p>In an immediate response, Human Resources Minister Dr Fong Chan Onn said he
was happy with the court’s decision which he said helped resolve the matter.</p>
<p>&quot;We’re glad to finally be given the legitimate mandate to conduct the
election.</p>
<p>&quot;I’ve already instructed the DGTU to carry it out with the full cooperation
of both factions and for it to be conducted within the provisions of the NUBE
constitution,&quot; he said.</p>
<p>&quot;The DGTU has already started working on it. We will try to conduct the
election at the earliest possible in realisation of NUBE members’ wishes,&quot;
he added.</p>
<p>The Court of Appeal today also heard another appeal involving an application
to set up a special committee comprising three representatives from either faction
to conduct the election.</p>
<p>Sivarasa said the bench however found ‘technical problems’ with the application
and had dismissed it without costs.