The Bahamas Financial Services Union is threatening industrial action unless a worker agreement is signed by FirstCaribbean International Bank.
This comes as the union fears that out of the 43 workers in the heritage bankcard divisions, only 11 positions would be available based on the integration programme of the bank.
The union filed a trade dispute on March 28, and further warned that it will use all powers under the labour laws to have the matter resolved, including industrial action.
At a press conference held Tuesday morning at its office at Chesapeake Road and Jerome Avenue, union executives appealed to the government to intervene on behalf of its members, as another bank which is seeking union representation is facing a similar predicament.
The union also wants members to be paid out of their pension and start afresh with FirstCaribbean, as the pension of Barclays employees is due to crystallise this month.
Since Barclays Bank PLC and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce announced the combining of their retail, corporate and offshore banking operations in the Caribbean to create FirstCaribbean International Bank in October 2001, the local branch has been beset with labour problems.
“We will not tolerate the lack of respect shown to the union, which is the recognised body under the laws of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas as the representative of the employees of FirstCaribbean bank,” a union spokesman said.
According to the union, there has been no discussion with them regarding the structure of the bank. And, at meetings held with the Human Resource Department, the union was told that a copy of the structure was not completed and that the bank “is only re-organising.”
In November 2002, the union wrote to the government advising that the industrial agreement remained unsigned and that the workers were being put in a “precarious position,” without worker protection.
The union said it was assured that 30 days after legal day one – October 14, 2002 the agreement would be signed.
Section 5 of a framework agreement states: “Best endeavours will be made to conclude outstanding negotiations in The Bahamas by July 7, 2002. This would require the commitment on both parties to work jointly toward this goal. An extended meeting of all the interested parties will be convened as soon as practicable in an effort to come to a conclusion on all outstanding issues.”
But on the 28th of last month, the union filed a dispute with the Labour Board in an effort to have the matter resolved.
The union further claimed that the bank made a “calculated move” to make redundancies without any consultation with the union and in contravention of section 296 of the Industrial Relations Act.
“The bank is in breach of the agreement made with all trade unions and associations of Barclays/FirstCaribbean in the Caribbean and the region,” the union said. “All unions/associations would be consulted prior to any implementation that would affect employees.”
On the issue with the credit card centre section, the union said that many employees there have never worked in the retail sector of the bank, hence their redeployment would be difficult.
In response to this, the bank said Card Service Management met last week with Bahamas Card Centre staff as part of its commitment to share our plans with the staff.
“We unfortunately erred in not previously sharing this information with the Unions. We have written to the Union apologising for this oversight and conveying our regrets for this error on our part,” it said.
Meanwhile, the union is also taking issue with the bank wanting to move part of its operations to Barbados, which means that customer information – Bahamians’ history/credit/salaries will be sent to Barbados for credit decisions.
The union argued that the distance between The Bahamas and Barbados does not justify documents being sent there.
Section 15 (1) of The Banks & Trust Companies Act 2000, and Section 38 of the Central Bank Act 2000 suggest that clients’ approval for confidential information to be submitted to a third party is required.
The union observed that although FirstCaribbean is part of a whole, each territory represents a separate legal entity subject to the legal jurisdiction, which clearly shows that the bank in Barbados would be considered a third party and ought to have the prior consent of the client.
The Guardian is still awaiting a response from the bank’s Human Resource Department.
By Lindsay Thompson, The Nassau Guardian
