Absa: “There is no mass retrenchment”
Absa has issued an official statment refuting reports that over 3000 Absa employees would be facing retrenchment under the alleged guise of being “reassigned”.
On Monday (26 March 2012), trade union Solidarity launched a website to protest the retrenchment of Absa employees, and started campaigning on Twitter under the hash-tag #stopabsa to garner support.
The campaign was launched off of the backdrop that Absa employees were receiving letters describing “restructuring” in the company – of which, several indicated that employee services would be terminated, effective 31 March 2012.
The exact number of employees affected or issued such letters is unknown.
“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” said Dirk Hermann, Deputy General Secretary of Solidarity.
Solidarity also added to their campaign by producing a video which it uploaded to YouTube, detailing the trail of information that lead up to the battle against Absa and Barclays.
Absa responds
In a statement issued today (29 March 2012), Absa said that “there is no mass retrenchment being undertaken within the company.”
“Absa has and will continue to evolve its systems and processes which sometimes lead to very limited job losses,” it said.
“Where possible, we will do this through natural attrition as evidenced by the reduction of 3580 roles last year, with retrenchments limited to 145. There is no plan to retrench 3000 colleagues as widely reported.”
The bank insisted that everything it is doing is by-the-book, keeping in communication with their union.
“Sasbo, as our officially recognised union, has been extensively consulted. We have followed the agreed principles and processes which are in line with labour relations best practice and regulations,” it concluded.
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