Solidarity launches Stop Absa campaign: "Today, tomorrow, goodbye"
Trade union Solidarity today announced it would be launching a massive campaign to put a stop to the retrenchments at Absa. The Stop Absa campaign's slogan will be "Today, tomorrow, goodbye".
The campaign will include, among other things, thousands of protest messages to Marcus Agius, the Chairman of Barclays in England. Solidarity will use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube videos to garner public support for the campaign.
The campaign comes after even more Absa employees received letters regarding the restructuring last week. Several employees' services will be terminated on 31 March 2012 and several others' services will be terminated on 13 May 2012. The total number of employees and posts that will be affected is not known, however.
"According to our information, Absa was instructed by Barclays to cut personnel costs by 10%. It is clear to us that Barclays' grip on Absa is getting tighter. Our focus will therefore shift to Barclays. We don't approve of a situation where the employees of a profitable South African bank subsidise a bank in England," said Dirk Hermann, Deputy General Secretary of Solidarity.
"Absa will be losing highly skilled personnel as a result of the latest restructuring. We are concerned that this pursuit of short-term gains will jeopardise the bank's sustainability in the long term," he added.
"In the campaign we will specifically protest against the manner in which the retrenchments were dealt with. In a YouTube video that will be released later in the week, employees relate how they were forced to pack up their personal belongings and were escorted out of the building like criminals in front of their colleagues. A number of their co-workers started crying when they saw them being escorted out. This style of laying people off is unfamiliar in South Africa and we cannot allow a foreign company to establish a strange and unacceptable culture in South Africa," according to Hermann.
"We call on Absa personnel and all other South Africans to participate in the campaign," said Hermann.
The public can send letters of protest regarding the Absa retrenchments to the Chairman of Barclays via the webpage www.stopabsa.co.za. Alternatively, they can text the word ‘Absa' to 34388 (R2 per SMS) to support the campaign. The campaign can also be followed on Twitter at #stopabsa.
Text of the pro forma letter to Barclays chairman Marcus Agius and Absa CEO Maria Ramos:
Dear Mr Marcus Agius and Mrs Maria Ramos
Stop the retrenchments at Absa
Absa is planted in African soil. Its roots are in the people of Africa and, in particular, South Africa. It has therefore taken on the character of the people of South Africa. This character is one of caring for others. Here in Africa, we believe people shape each other and that it is important to look after one another. Absa used to be known as the people's bank: its clients were like family who were loyal to it; its employees were treated like humans, not numbers. This is no longer the case.
Over the past year, Absa embarked on a restructuring programme which is now in full swing. Our information is that Barclays instructed Absa to cut its personnel expenses by 10%. This process is being executed in a callous and aggressive manner. Employees of Absa relate how they were informed that their posts were redundant; that they were immediately instructed to pack up their belongings and to hand in their laptops; and that they were escorted out like criminals. They relate how, after 20, 30 and, in some cases, even 40 years of service, they were escorted out while tears were streaming down their colleagues' faces.
Absa is refusing to disclose the full scope of its restructuring programme. No one knows how many people are going to be affected by the process. No one knows who is going to be the next to pack up and leave. The next group of employees' services will be terminated on 31 March 2012.
It is clear that Barclays' hold on Absa is getting stronger. Your restructuring programme at Absa has restructured the culture at Absa. The people's bank has been ‘retrenched'. You want to extract the culture of caring, which is characteristic of Africa, from the bank. This is not the way we operate in South Africa and we will not allow it. There is no room for a ruthless, uncaring approach to doing business in our country.
We, as concerned South Africans, therefore inform you that we are participating in a Stop Absa campaign. Our demand is simple: Stop the current programme of restructuring and retrenchment at Absa. The process is fundamentally immoral and has brought methods of retrenchment to South Africa that we are unfamiliar with and don't want to be familiar with.
In short, our demand is: Stop the retrenchments at Absa.
Yours faithfully,
Concerned South African
Statement issued by Dirk Hermann, Deputy General Secretary: Solidarity, March 27 2012
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