News

Royal Bank of Canada workers in Antigua are striking after months of negotiation resulted in a zero per cent pay increase offer from the banking giant. The strike comes at a time of widespread concern over the business methods of Canadian banks operating in the Caribbean, and their failure to negotiate fully with unions representing finance workers.



Both Antigua branches of RBC and its sister bank Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago have closed following the pay freeze, which staff say is the latest in a string of setbacks for workers. Staff have complained at being set unrealistic and ever-increasing sales targets, being forced to push debt and financial products onto an unassuming public, and say that RBC appears to be limiting its workers’ rights to join a trade union – a right recognized in law throughout the Caribbean and through International Labour Organization conventions.



Last week UNI Global Union - the global union for the finance sector - held top-level talks with its affiliate Caribbean trade unions in Antigua during which Canadian banks were raised as one of the top issues affecting workers in the region.



UNI Global Union Secretary General Philip Jennings said:



“I was in Antigua last week speaking to union leaders, and believe me these workers are frustrated. They’re frustrated at their working conditions, they are frustrated at their pay, and they are frustrated by the lack of respect being shown to them by Royal Bank of Canada.



“It is the right of every Caribbean worker to join a union and bargain for fair conditions. I don’t think that RBC is following this example.”



Bank worker Aldo McCoy, Senior Shop Steward of Royal Bank of Canada Antigua said:



“We had been renegotiating our two year contract and we had been operating in good faith. They have now offered us zero per cent after the bank has been profitable for the last two years.



“We decided we had to make a stand and send a message to our employers. We are the gate keepers and we should be taken care of too.”



David Messiah, Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union General Secretary said:



“This action has stemmed from the protracted way in which these discussions have been happening. We have been negotiating for more than nine months and the workers are frustrated. People are worried about their jobs.



“Their job functions have continued to change without proper dialogue with unions. The bank continues to act in a way that does not respect trade unions.”



Royal Bank of Canada, which owns the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, has already refused a legitimate claim for recognition made on behalf of two thousand workers by the Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union.