[1] This is a reference under s 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 ["the Act"] pertaining to the trade dispute between the National Union Of Bank Employees ["the union"] and HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad ["the Bank"] regarding the validity of an agreement titled "One HSBC, Outsourcing & Restructuring Agreement" signed by both parties on 24 October 2010.

[2] In the present case, the General Secretary of the union [UOW1] testified that in 2010 the bank was carrying out a restructuring process to reduce manpower in several areas and had invited applications from its employees who were keen to cease their employment by way of a one-off Voluntary Separation Scheme [VSS]. In June 2010 a dispute arose involving [26] employees of the bank who were members of the union as a result of restructuring under the bank's "ONE HSBC" project. As a result, the parties entered into a memorandum of agreement [MOA] called "One HSBC, Outsourcing & Restructuring Agreement on 24 June 2010. By virtue of this MOA, the bank was required inter alia to consult the