Banking and insurance companies in ASEAN countries are increasingly venturing out to invest in emerging markets in the region. Under the ASEAN framework agreement on services [AFAS] ? a regional version of GATS- service industries are now free to move their investment across the region. ASEAN bank union leaders are concerned about the increasing practices for banks to offshore and outsource jobs, which is detrimental for many bank employees in this region. Furthermore, in order to capitalise on the opportunities available in the emerging markets with a view to de-regulate the labor market, labour authorities in some countries are violating the labour laws to the advantage of regional and global multinational corporations. Trade unions are spending their scarce resources to set right the irregularities through legal actions. Job migration and outsourcing, particularly in financial service industry, was subjected to extensive discussion at the annual meeting of the ASEAN Bank union leaders.



ASEAN bank unions leaders exchanged experiences about the trends and practices in the banking industry during the 6th ASEAN Bank Union Council [ABUC] meeting held in Melbourne, Australia. The meeting was organised by UNI Asia and Pacific regional organization [UNI APRO] in conjunction with the UNI APRO Finance sector steering group meeting held at the same venue on 4t April 2007.

In order to share information, exchange experiences and to facilitate networking, ABUC agreed to set up trade union alliances amongst those regional banks operating in the ASEAN region with the support and initiative of the home country unions and the UNI APRO secretariat.

Bro. Jayasri Priyalal, UNI APRO Director for Finance Sector activities, explained UNI APRO strategies to cooperate with ASEAN in order to represent the interest of workers. Furthermore, he informed the audience of the launch of ASEAN Service Employees Trade Union council [ASETUC], a pro-active strategy by UNI APRO to represent the interest of employees in the service industries in ASEAN. Banking is the pioneering service industry to capitalise in liberalised markets in emerging ASEAN economy. He encouraged the ABUC to play a leading role in the ASETUC to safeguard the interests of union members.

In addition, Bro. Priyalal made a brief presentation on the International Labor Standards and on the UN Global Compact to increase awareness, among the council members, about the different tools available for trade unions to engage with multinational corporations. Council members welcomed the good Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] practices of multinational banks like HSBC and SCB. In the action plan adopted, ABUC agreed to conduct workshops for national trade union officials in order to forge a better understanding of the concept of CSR and of International Labour Standards in the ASEAN region.

Bro.Oliver Roethig, Head of UNI Finance Global Union, acknowledged in his opening remarks that ASEAN is another powerhouse, similar to the European Union. Accordingly, member governments will accelerate the economic integration process on priority basis. Therefore the ABUC should come up with a concrete action plan to promote the interest of bank unions members, taking into account the unique challenges posed by the banking industry in the integrated regional markets. In this regard, UNI as a global union federation could share the European experiences of the economic integration process with affiliates in the ASEAN countries.

Bro. J Solomon, General Secretary of NUBE Malaysia and also the President of ABUC, chaired the meeting. There were fourteen union officials representing the ASEAN banking unions at the meeting. Two bank union leaders from India and Pakistan participated at the meeting as observers.

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