Banks forced us into strike action – banking officials

Friday’s looming banking sector strike is due to the banks rushing into retrenchments.

This was the word from the South African society of bank officials (Sasbo), a Cosatu affiliate, which is determined to bring the banks to their knees, calling them “devious and uncaring”.

Business Unity South Africa (Busa) took the fight to the Labour Court in Johannesburg today in an attempt to halt the planned strike.

Busa wants the court to declare the strike unprotected.

Sasbo, a Cosatu affiliate says that the banks forced it to take to the streets.

Joe Kokela, Sasbo secretary-general, said that they had tried to resolve their issues with the banking sector without resorting to industrial action.

“As the most experienced human resources hands in the finance sector we understand the pressure the banks are under. We know that the nature of the work is changing thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution,” Kokela said.

Kokela said they understood that there was no point of banks subsidising bankrupt branches but he believes that the banks were quick to implement changes.

“When the cold winds struck too quickly, too unthinkingly and too selfishly, the banks rushed to wield the knife,” Kokela said.

Kokela made an example of Standard Bank. Earlier this year the bank announced that it would be retrenching more than 1200 people and closing close to 91 branches around the country.

“In their rush, they are discriminating against the poor. Not only are they taking away banking services from low LSM communities, the people they retrenched from those branches live in those same communities, leading to double the impact.

Kokela said that Standard Bank was a prime example of how badly the banks were handling their restructuring.

“Even their CEO admitted it,” Kokela said.

Last month Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala admitted that the bank might have made a mistake by closing some of the branches.

“I have to admit that we have made mistakes along the way. There are certain communities where we should have not closed branches,” Tshabalala said.

Kokela said though Tshabalala admitted this, nothing had been done to rectify it.

“There has been no move to reopen any of the closed branches. This inaction is making the banks seem devious and uncaring. No one must blame Sasbo for the strike action,” Kokela added.

National economic development and labour council convener for Busa, Kaizer Moyane, said they approached the courts because Sasbo didn’t comply with Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act.

“There were no negotiations before this strike action,” Moyane said.

The negotiations Sasbo keeps on referring to took place in 2017.

“Their concerns might have not changed since then, but the circumstances have changed. All we are asking is that before there’s any strike action, we had to go back to the negotiating table,” Moyane said.

Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said that when they went into negotiations in 2017 they deadlocked on issues.

“We got a non-resolution certificate then. Since then non of the issues we deadlocked on have been resolved so the certificate still applies,” Pamla said.

“The certificate doesn’t have an expiry date and since they haven’t resolved any of our issues we will continue with the strike action,” Pamla said.

Judge Hilary Rabkin-Naicker reserved judgment on Wednesday for Thursday morning.

Sthembiso Lebuso Journalist | City Press

+27 11 713 9001 Sthembiso.Lebuso@citypress.co.za Media Park, 69 Kingsway Road, Auckland Park

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