Bank workers seek voice in liquidation

MANILA, Philippines – Bank workers want to be part of the decision-making process regarding bank closures, takeovers and liquidations.

In a letter sent to the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC), the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE), an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-International Trade Union Confederation (TUCP-ITUC), urged PDIC president Valentin Araneta to let bank employees – together with their union if present – have a voice and afforded the opportunity to offer viable solutions on how to abort liquidation or merger.

That could be achieved in the proposed legislation being pursued by the PDIC governing the takeover, liquidation and winding up operations of banks that are closed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

NUBE national president Jose P. Umali Jr. said that this could be the missing key on avoiding such eventuality by a bank, noting that among the hardest hit when a bank is liquidated are the bank employees who are displaced but are blameless when a bank is mismanaged.

“Yet, they are the innocent victims even in cases of bank mergers, especially when they are unionless,” Umali added.

The PDIC has already presented to the Senate and House of Representatives the proposed Closed Bank Liquidation Act (CBLA) which would serve as a “comprehensive law” to hasten the liquidation of closed banks through the seamless transition from bank closure to liquidation.

He added that the proposed CBLA “will greatly smoothen the transition from a live bank in distress to a closed bank and minimize the disruption to the system.”

As NUBE threw its support behind the proposed legislation, Umali said they “find PDIC’s proposal lacking in part of not taking into account the most important resource among the banks, that is, the bank employees.”

Last year alone, 29 banks were closed by the BSP with a total of P26.4 billion of deposits outstanding accounted for by over 290,000 bank accounts of which nearly P13 billion were insured. –(The Philippine Star)