Trade union Solidarity may approach the Labour Court to halt Standard Bank’s retrenchment process if the banking giant does not immediately send a Section 189 notice to the trade union.
“At a meeting with Solidarity last week the bank undertook to send a written notice containing all the information about the planned retrenchments to the trade union … however, Solidarity has still not received any information and presented a written ultimatum to the bank on Thursday,” the union said in a statement on Friday.
The bank announced to its staff on Thursday that it planned to retrench 1 200 of its permanent employees locally, 300 permanent employees in London and 600 contract workers before the end of this month.
Solidarity deputy general secretary Gideon du Plessis said the Labour Relations Act clearly stipulated that an employer planning retrenchments had to consult with all unions involved, regardless of the number of members the union had.
“Solidarity is now demanding that all the trade unions that have members at the bank should be properly informed, in terms of legislation, about the planned retrenchments, and that everyone should be consulted.”
Meanwhile, Du Plessis said the union was still questioning Standard Bank’s rationale for the move.
“The banking group spends about R350-million per year on foreign contractors, and foreigners receive almost double the remuneration that local employees with the same job description receive.”
The union has demanded that, in addition to information about the reasons for the retrenchments and the number of employees that would be affected, Standard Bank had also to provide complete information about the bank’s financial state.
Du Plessis said the uncertainty caused by retrenchments such as these affected employees and their families.
“It is common for cases of depression, family violence, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide and even family murder to increase sharply under conditions like these.”
He said the situation was being aggravated exponentially by Standard Bank’s “rash action” and “poor communication” about the decision.
“Consequently, rumours are spread, which causes panic.”
Du Plessis said the bank was “a financially sound company” that wanted to expand to markets such as Nigeria, Argentina and Russia, but now the bank wanted its employees to pay for these expansions.
“While it is good news for South Africa that the banking giant is planning to expand, it cannot be at the expense of its employees in South Africa.
Asked to comment, Standard Bank spokesperson Erik Larsen said in an emailed response: “We have just started the consultation process with employees, so do not believe it appropriate to comment further at this stage.” — Sapa