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On 2nd February 2016, Zimbabwe Banks and Allied Workers Union demonstrated outside the British Embassy and handed over a petition (see pdf below) to the officials expressing their disappointment with the series of planned and structural retrenchments, job cuts and discriminatory compensation packages.

In a series of cost cutting measures, Standard Chartered Bank has put in place structural outsourcing and offshoring practices to its servicing hubs, resulting in severe job losses in many countries including Zimbabwe, where the bank used to employ local, semi-skilled and clerical staff in many of its core bank functions.

In 2015 January, 69 employees had been retrenched through a Voluntary Retirement Scheme and another 37 employees are currently in the process of retrenchment. The management had already indicated that further retrenchments will be undertaken in phases over the course of the next three years.

What is most discriminatory is that there have been differences in the compensations. The management is paying out a less favourable retrenchment package than what had been given ten months ago.

This is most disappointing when Standard Chartered Bank states that it is in their brand promise to be “Here for good, sets out deep and lasting commitment to people, to the communities in which we live and work, and to building a sustainable and responsible business for the long run. And it’s this commitment that not only sets us apart as a bank but also as an employer.”

https://www.sc.com/en/careers/working-with-us/our-commitment-to-you.html

The union is therefore calling for the British Embassy to:

1. Demand Standard Chartered Bank to reconsider the migration of Zimbabwean economic activities to other countries
2. Implore Standard Chartered Group Management to treat all affected employees fairly and without discrimination
3. Apply pressure on Standard Chartered Bank for it to review its strategy with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders including the trade unions for the common good
4. Escalate this matter to the Agenda of the OECD