News

Barclays announced today that its profits rose 12% to £5.5bn in 2014.

The CEO Antony Jenkins was awarded a £1.1m bonus - his first as chief executive - pushing his total pay package to £5.5m for 2014.

For Marcio Monzane, Head of UNI Finance, “we’re pleased to see that Barclays has had a profitable year and we expect some of this wealth to trickle down to the employees who are working hard under stressful circumstances every day to add value to the company.

“It would take a Barclays bank teller in Tanzania around 56 years to earn what the Barclays Africa CEO Maria Ramos takes home in an average month.

“We believe that if Barclays CEOs can afford to pay themselves multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses, they can afford to offer greater job security and fairer wages throughout Barclay’s global operations.”

In Africa, the Bank is expanding its business quickly. But workers’ rights are slower to develop and income inequalities are still prevailing. In some countries like Uganda or Tanzania, the workers don’t have a voice on the job as the local unions are not being fully recognized by the company. In Botswana, Barclays is employing a lot of contract workers on a short-time basis, who are not covered by the collective agreement. In Zimbabwe, the union represents nearly 83% of the workforce but the starting salary is still very low.  

The members of UNI Global Union Finance, the global union representing 3 million finance employees in over 100 countries have joined forces to create the  Barclays Europe Alliance and the Barclays Africa Alliance. Both platforms will merge during the week of June 22nd with the launch of the Barclays Global Alliance. Together the unions are asking for job security, fair pay and a voice on the job. UNI is also asking the company to restart the negotiations for a Global Framework Agreement which would guarantee a set of standards and rights for all employees working for Barclays around the world.