Amidst reports of uncertainties regarding the merger between the Canadian Imperial Bank of Canada, Bahamas Limited (CIBC) and Barclays Bank to form the FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) Limited, President of the Bahamas Financial Services Union (BFSU), Theresa Mortimer said after numerous meetings with bank management, positive strides are being made to ensure a smooth transition with the merger process.
The official launching of the merger was on October 14. However, despite visible signs of the FirstCaribbean International Bank logo and literature being presented to bank customers, all banking transactions are still being conducted separately at Barclays and CIBC.
According to Mortimer, even though there was a first legal date of changes pertaining to the merger, there were no major changes and that big changes are not expected until the merger is completed within the next 15 to 18 months.
“We are sitting at the table, we are in the money issues, Mortimer said,” “so we are getting there and we hope that at the end of the year we will be able to say that our industrial agreement has been signed and we definitely have to do it before the merger negotiation between Barclays and CIBC is completed,” Mortimer said.”
“What we are looking at right now is the integration of two banks, but so far, we don’t have any Barclays staff working in CIBC or any CIBC staff working in Barclays,” she said. “So the integration period is still going on. While the integration period is going on, everybody’s job is secured and there are no layoffs as yet.”
The Union president said that what BFSU currently has as one of its major endeavours, is a plan to protect the rights of union members who may wish to retire or leave the organisation.
Stating that the plan has been discussed and negotiated with bank management, Mortimer said workers who choose to leave will be given the right to leave and with that right, a handsome package will be given to both CIBC and Barclays staff.
She said unfortunately, the package expected to be received by Barclays staff is a little more than CIBC staff because Barclays employees were already apart of the union at the time of merger initiation. CIBC on the other hand however, came onboard after the fact and because recognition for CIBC has recently taken place, they will not able to get as much.
“I think that it is a pretty good package for employees coming from both banks and we are looking for them (management) to honour that package with every staff member who have signified that they wish to leave the company,” she said.
On November 15, BFSU held election of officers to head a new team. They include: President, Theresa Mortimer; Vice President, Donald Chong; Executive Vice President, Michael Johnson; General Secretary, Lashon Sawyer; Assistant General Secretary, Sharon Lockhart; Treasurer, Linda Evans; Assistant Treasurer, Sue Culmer; Trustees are Mark Gomez, Cleopatra Deal and Ashley Bethel.
Mortimer said the goal of the Union is to protect, advance and promote the interest of its members in every aspect. One of the goals of the new executive is that they would like to extend open hands to every financial institution in the finance industry.
“That will be everybody under the Central Bank Act 2000,” she said. “This includes Insurance companies, lawyers, accountants or anyone who deals with money who falls under the Act.”
She said the BFSU sees itself as a big body, one that is committed to helping those in the financial services sector particularly at a time when offshore banks have been forced to close their doors due to stringent anti-money laundering laws.
“Many of the employees from these banks who were union members were out of a job,” she said. “So we want to secure the future for persons who work in the banking industry. This is the reason for us extending our hand.”
On October 31, 2001, CIBC and Barclays announced that they had signed an agreement to bring together the Caribbean retail, corporate and offshore banking operations of CIBC WIHL and its subsidiaries including the company with the Caribbean retail corporate and offshore banking operations of Barclays to create FirstCaribbean International Bank.
The amalgamation entails the operating subsidiaries of CIBC WIHL acquiring geographically related operations of Barclays.
Additionally, the company will obtain Barclays retail, corporate and offshore banking operations in The Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands.
Mortimer said when the time comes for those employees who wish to leave the company to receive their packages, it will give way for when the banks will eventually close some of their doors. Stressing that this process is ‘no joke or fabrication’ she said in due time some of the banks will close down.
She said when one considers how close Barclays and CIBC is to one another in certain areas, when the merger becomes complete, one of those banks will have to close.
“We feel that with some of the staff stating that they wish to go and when they are allowed to go and are given what is rightfully theirs, this will make way for those staff working at branches that will be closed to be supplemented to the ones that stay open.”
Stating that Barclays has a lot of temporary workers and CIBC a lot of cashier workers who are not apart of the union, Mortimer said it is not that they don’t care for them, but that their first obligation is to secure jobs for union members.
“So we don’t see it in bad taste to say before you can let a permanent staff of Barclays go, you need to let the temp go,” she said.
“We see things are looking up for us and we are trying to head this positive direction which is to make sure the employees are happy and at the same time management is happy too. We are not going to fool ourselves, alot of the staff at Barclays and CIBC need to work, some cannot afford to take the package and leave. They have to stay and so we need FirstCaribbean to make it happen for us to secure our jobs and the jobs of future generations to come.”
“Want we really want to do at this time is invite the members of the financial industry of The Bahamas to please come and join us because it could be a little too late to say help you when the bank is closing. We might be able help you, but we could only do so much more if our feet are in the door through recognition.”
In regard to public announcement and customer letters bearing the FirstCaribbean logo, she said that Barclays and CIBC management must continue to make it clear to their customers the circumstances surrounding their benefits during the merger process.
“What this is saying is that yes, we are have now become FirstCaribbean, this is our logo or slogan, but you cannot do transactions as a Barclays bank employee in CIBC, and this same thing applies to CIBC employees, there is still a matter of time for that.”
New union executives are excited and are looking forward to working with bank management and with everybody within the financial industry.
By Lisa Albury, The Nassau Guardian
