Trade union Solidarity is taking big four bank Absa to court to force it to consult with the union over an ongoing retrenchment process.
The union has served the bank with papers, and it has until next Wednesday to respond.
Absa initiated a restructuring process earlier this year, which led to about 1 600 IT professionals being told to reapply for their jobs.
About 200 unsuccessful employees were marched off the premises in February, carrying their possessions in boxes. At the end of March, about 145 of Absa's IT staff members were still on gardening leave, while the bank attempted to assist them in finding new jobs.
In May, the bank issued letters of retrenchment to about 140 staff members, telling them they would be out of work on 9 June. They were given a day to fill in forms and had to return all Absa's possessions to the bank.
However, the bank then withdrew the letters and agreed to continue discussions with finance union Sasbo, which currently represents about 22 000 of Absa's around 39 000 staff members.
Sasbo assistant general-secretary Comfort Duma says negotiations led to several of the affected staff members being placed, while others took early retirement or voluntary retrenchment packages. He says a handful - less than 30 - were not successful and were retrenched.
Absa has vowed that there would not be a further round of restructuring this year. The bank repeatedly denied it was embarking on a mass job-cutting exercise and that it was instead matching skills with vacancies.
Left out
However, Solidarity, which is not a recognised union at the bank, argues that its members have not had its full protection during the process, because Absa has not involved it in discussions that affect its members.
Solidarity has now instituted legal proceedings to force Absa to consult with it and reverse retrenchments that affect its members, because it was left out of the negotiation phase.
The union has demanded, since April, that the bank consult with it in terms of the Labour Relations Act and its current retrenchment policy around its affected members, and is now going to court in a bid to force the bank to meet its demand.
Spokesman Johan Kruger says the Act requires that employers first consult with relevant trade unions before carrying out any retrenchments. In addition, Absa's current retrenchment policy stipulates that the company must consult with registered trade unions whose members will be affected by the retrenchment process.
Kruger says the bank has rejected Solidarity's demand to be included in the consultations, and would only consult with Sasbo. He says Solidarity members at Absa did not receive notices to formally notify them of the retrenchments.
"They were not involved in a consultation process regarding the retrenchments, as required by the Act and the bank's current retrenchment policy," says Kruger. He says several members were unsuccessful in their bids to apply for new positions.
Lips sealed
Absa, which was specifically asked how many staff members in its IT department who were sent retrenchment letters earlier this year have been laid off, will only say that it treated staff fairly.
"We have concluded the current reassignment process. As a responsible organisation that does its business within the ambit of the rules and regulations of the country, we ensured that we treated all our employees fairly. We believe that our process will stand any legal challenge that anyone might want to bring. We have nothing further to say on this matter."
In February, Absa said its reassignment programme did "not amount to retrenchments, as affected employees are given the opportunity to apply for positions across the group". It added, "through developments in technology and processes, we continuously seek to improve output, while reducing duplication".
The re-application for jobs is in line with its "programme of integration with the rest of Africa and the efficiencies that derive from this process", it said in February.
Absa has said that, since 2009, it has consistently indicated that it endeavoured to improve efficiencies and effectiveness, while reducing duplication.
"Where the reorganisation of particular business units is necessary, we aim to minimise the impact on our people through effective processes to find suitable placement for these employees. In exceptional cases, this may not be possible."
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