{"id":15300,"date":"2018-05-30T18:02:07","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T17:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15300"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:43","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:43","slug":"find-moral-compass-unite-demands-rbs-acts-with-sense-of-social-responsibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15300","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Find your moral compass\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s condemnation of a swathe of planned Royal Bank of Scotland branch closures was heard loud and clear by the bank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s top brass today (May 30), after members spoke out at the bank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s annual general meeting (AGM) in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RBS bosses and shareholders were met by placard carrying protesters as they entered RBS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 headquarters, as well as hearing from members in attendance at the AGM who are concerned at the devastating impact the proposed cuts will have on jobs and local communities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 72 per cent state owned bank, which was bailed out by the taxpayer following the 2008 financial crisis, is planning to close 280 branches across the UK<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including 62 in Scotland \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a move that will result in the loss of nearly 1,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite rep Imtiaz Mahmood, a branch worker for RBS subsidiary Natwest, travelled from Leicester to address board members and stakeholders at the meeting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mahmood said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen the first automated tellers were introduced, staff were instructed to show customers how to use the machines that were putting them out of the job \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even though management said there was no chance of that happening. Now the same thing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on with online banking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want the first thing staff say to customers to be \u00e2\u20ac\u0098hello, how are you?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 but \u00e2\u20ac\u0098did you know you could have done this at home\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. They want everybody out the branches. They say demand has fallen, but the truth is they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve created the fall themselves.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yesterday (May 29) members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) heard how banks had \u00e2\u20ac\u015bturned their back<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 on Scottish communities, leaving vulnerable and disabled people without access to financial services and causing a drop in profits of up to 15 per cent for small businesses in areas where branches have closed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite member and NHS worker Heather Gilfillan, who attended the protest outside the AGM, echoed those concerns.<\/p>\n

\n

\"UNITE<\/p>\n

Unite’s Heather Gilfillan grills RBS CEO Ross McEwan<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI come from a little old mining village in East Lothian that will be left without a bank and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s horrendous. We have elderly people who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go on the internet \u00e2\u20ac\u201c RBS are expecting them to travel to the next town or even further just to do their banking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Senior RBS rep Harriet Culkin travelled from London to attend the protest and described the programme of widespread branch closures as \u00e2\u20ac\u015boverwhelming\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Slash and burn strategies<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAll we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had for the last 10 years with RBS is job losses and bank closures. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just slash and burn policies based on the excesses of the pre-2008 culture and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still going on, despite the bank being publicly owned.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSurely they must have some social responsibility to the communities they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re leaving with nothing.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite regional officer Lyn Turner, who gave evidence at yesterday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Scottish parliamentary committee meeting, said the government had \u00e2\u20ac\u015babdicated its responsibility to the British taxpayer\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 by allowing the bank closures to go ahead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s AGM we called on ordinary shareholders to question the bank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s executives on this disastrous decision that will hurt local communities and businesses alike,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have deep concerns about the alternatives RBS want to put in place, such as mobile banking vans and the use of Post Offices. There are huge issues around security, privacy and disability access and access to internet banking in rural areas were broadband is predominantly poor or very slow.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite Scotland regional secretary Pat Rafferty called on RBS to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfind its moral compass and sense of social responsibility\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs well as risking our members\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 livelihoods, these closures will have a hugely devastating effect on communities, especially in Scotland. The fact is these closures don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to happen, because RBS is back in profit following a \u00c2\u014145m bail out from the taxpayer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bRather than forgetting that the bank belongs to all of us and embarking on short sighted cost cutting, RBS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 bosses need to ensure its hard working staff and the communities they serve are protected.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pics by Craig MacLean<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s condemnation of a swathe of planned Royal Bank of Scotland branch closures was heard loud and clear by the bank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s top brass today (May 30), after members spoke out at the bank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s annual general meeting (AGM) in Edinburgh.   RBS bosses and shareholders were met by placard carrying protesters as they entered RBS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 headquarters, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[32,292,123,90],"wps_subtitle":"Unite demands RBS acts with \u00e2\u20ac\u0098sense of social responsibility\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15300"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26163,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15300\/revisions\/26163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}