bank workers to strike
WORKERS, JUNE 2005 ISSUE
Amicus members employed by HSBC Bank were set to strike as Workers went to press. The strike, on 27 May, is in protest at the proposed new pay and bonus scheme. Ten per cent of staff would receive no pay increase, 45% of staff would receive a below inflation increase and nearly all staff would lose out on the new bonus scheme. HSBC made nearly £9.6 billion in profit last year, has 1600 branches in the UK and employs 60,000 people.
At Lloyds TSB a consultative ballot by the union (LTU) of the 45,000 members employed by the bank has indicated an overwhelming majority to reject the recent 4% pay offer. Analysis by the LTU shows that 20% of the 70,000 Lloyds TSB staff did not or will not receive a pay increase this year. The union believes a significant number of staff have not received pay increases for three to four years.
This is a direct result of performance-related pay schemes. The other aspect to the Lloyds TSB offer is a further 3% to be taken in childcare vouchers or share options. Fine if your children are receiving a private education or you are a budding stock marketeer! But it reeks of the old practices which the Truck Acts outlawed — you can be paid but only spend it at the company shop. It may be high finance but it is still exploitation.
• Forty branches of the Leeds-based Yorkshire Bank and 60 branches of the Glasgow-based Clydesdale Bank are to be closed, with the loss of 1,700 jobs. Both banks are owned by the National Australia Bank, which bought them in the late 1980s. NAB announced the closures at the same time that it announced quarterly profit returns of £1.15 billion. The job losses equate to NAB "saving" £117 million.
A further 465 jobs are being shed by Lloyds TSB, a move described by the LTU as "offshoring by proxy". Work already shipped to India has created excess capacity in Britain. Further transfers of work to India are in the pipeline.
Some 6,000 bank branches have closed since 1990 due to the rise of call centres, internet and telephone banking. Like the closure of post offices, the impact on communities, especially rural ones, is significant. Other businesses and shops tend to close shortly afterwards, leaving areas isolated and bereft of social cohesion.