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COSATU on Nedcor take over

From COSATU, via Mukoni Ratshitanga
16 November 1999

COSATU has learnt with concern, that Nedcor's bid to take over Standard Bank threatens 10 000 jobs in the banking sector. Unemployment and job losses undoubtedly represent the biggest challenge of our country at the moment. South Africa therefore does not need anymore retrenchments.

Yesterday, our affiliate, the South African Society of Baking Officials (SASBO) demanded a "Human Resource Protocol" to halt job losses from Stanbic shareholders.

The union called on the bank's management to discuss job losses with workers and their unions before the merger and warned that "substantial job losses in the banking sector will have a devastating effect on the economy as a whole and could impede the objective of creating a super bank."

COSATU supports SASBO's call and add our voice to the rational call for discussion by the banks and unions before they implement the merger.

Central to our concern is the worsening of monopoly which is by and large a defining feature of the banking industry and the South African economy. In the context of so few competitors, the public risks baring the brunt through the possible fixing of bank charges, interest charges, the reduction of costs which must now be made up through the expressed intention to shed jobs and possibly the deterioration of services.

We call on the Competition Board to investigate levels of job losses that will result from the merger and its impact on competition.