Mon 23 September 2019:
South Africa’s largest financial union Sasbo will embark on a major banking strike on Friday (27 September).
Banking union Sasbo said South Africans should brace themselves for a complete standstill in the financial services sector as it embarked on a strike.
Workers affiliated to the union will go on strike in Gauteng, the Free State, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal on Friday.
The union said it was expecting 30,000 of its members to stay away from work.
Sasbo’s Joe Kokela said they were calling for a moratorium from banks on job losses.
“We are calling for the relook for the CEO and executive salaries because they are getting exorbitant salaries which are not equal to what workers are earning.”
He said they also wanted direction on how the institutions were planning to deal with the fourth industrial revolution.
“Whereby with the skilling and upskilling and reskilling of workers if they might be at risk of losing their jobs.”
Sasbo said its members in Gauteng will march from Congress of South African Trade Unions in Braamfontein to Bank City in the Johannesburg CBD.
Many local banks have closed a number of their branches as a result of digitalisation, which encourages self-service, with clients using their mobile phones and computers, rather than walking into a branch.
Absa, Standard Bank, and Nedbank Group have all consulted with staff about cuts in recent months.
Absa is restructuring operations across its business units, Standard Bank is closing 91 branches, while Nedbank is in talks with about 1,500 employees over job cuts or redeployments, Bloomberg reported in July.
Affected areas
According to Sasbo’s website, five major marches are planned throughout the country in Johannesburg, Durban, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.
While some routes are still being finalised, the union told EWN that its members in Gauteng will march from Cosatu headquarters in Braamfontein to Bank City in the Johannesburg CBD.
This march is expected to be made up of some 15,000 to 20,000 protesters alone.
Banks are preparing
While the strike threatens to bring the country’s banking sector to a standstill, South Africa’s biggest banks say that they are preparing for the strike action.
Standard Bank spokesperson Ross Linstrom told BusinessDay that customers would be kept informed should there be any change or disruption to their banking activity.
