{"id":21342,"date":"2021-03-26T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T14:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=21342"},"modified":"2021-03-26T14:19:18","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T14:19:18","slug":"its-time-bank-workers-were-recognised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=21342","title":{"rendered":"Heroes of the year – bank branch workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This week, on the first anniversary of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first lockdown, UNITElive is featuring some of the top stories we have covered on the pandemic and our members\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 contributions, concerns and achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in May, we spoke to Unite rep and bank worker Margaret, who told of the struggles they faced working at the height of the pandemic. Read more in our feature below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘IT’S TIME BANK WORKERS WERE RECOGNISED<\/strong>‘<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nurses, paramedics, delivery drivers, supermarket and bus workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c these are only some of the key workers who have rightly been lauded as heroes amid the coronavirus crisis. But there are many others amid the pandemic who have not had the recognition they deserve as they continue going to work and risking their lives to help others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite rep Margaret* works at a bank branch and she and her colleagues play an absolutely vital role at a time when the vast majority of businesses are shut during the lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re here to look after our vulnerable customers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c those who live on the breadline who are waiting for money to come into their account,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bOthers are elderly and need help with their banking, or maybe someone has a daughter down the road and needs to get money into her account. Others don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have enough money in their accounts and need to come into the branch to put money in to pay their bills. We know our vulnerable customers personally and just as before the epidemic we feel we have a duty to look after them especially at this time of crisis.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Margaret and her colleagues feel angry and let down by their employer as they expose themselves to a deadly pandemic without any leadership from upper management. While the branches are open for limited hours, staff haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been given the guidelines they need to keep themselves safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re only supposed to take on absolutely essential work \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but this is left to our own discretion and neither branch workers nor our customers have been given any guidelines as to what constitutes essential. When we turn a customer down for what we see as obviously non-essential requests \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for example someone who might come in with a \u00c2\u014110 cheque with no expiry on it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and they complain, then we get it in the neck from the bosses.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margaret says that because of this lack of clarity, customers who may not know any better come to the bank when they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the queues she says have only gotten longer and longer each day \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and so increase bank workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 risk of exposure. This risk is especially heightened when handling bank notes and coins, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said can transmit the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve taken up this issue with upper management time and again but they simply won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t listen \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re working from home and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re making all these decisions from the safety of their own home. None of them have said okay I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll actually come in and spend a couple of hours in the branch to understand the reality of what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re facing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow with Boris Johnson saying we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve reached the peak of the virus, even more customers have come in. Just this morning before we even opened we had more than ten people queueing. People have even brought chairs to queue up.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) has also been a major issue for her and her colleagues, Margaret notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have screens now but those only came in last week,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bGloves also came in three weeks after they were supposed to. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had to personally source and bring in gloves for my colleagues \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the bank says they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll reimburse us but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the point.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anxiety among staff at the branch where Margaret works is now running extremely high, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only being exacerbated as the government signals an ease of the lockdown as early as next week, which many critics have said is premature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAfter Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcement from Boris Johnson, I suspect the bank will immediately start extending our opening hours,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople will think \u00e2\u20ac\u201c okay we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re back to normal and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all over. Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcement absolutely petrifies all of us at the branch because whatever the prime minister says, people will hear what they want to hear. Already customers are demanding that we open the tills we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had to close to maintain social distancing. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re asking why we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let people in more than two at a time.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the extreme stress that Margaret and her colleagues are all now under, she said what motivates them is not only their duty to their customers in need but also their loyalty to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is a sense among our team \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and we have a brilliant team \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that we are in this together,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI would do anything for my team and they would do anything for me.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margaret urges other bank branch workers who are working through the crisis to stand together with each other and to be brave and vocal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you feel it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the right thing to do for your personal safety, then don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been very outspoken throughout the crisis and have been told twice already by bosses that after all this is over, that you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want be remembered by management for the wrong things. My answer to them is this \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if by \u00e2\u20ac\u0098wrong things\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 you mean caring for my colleagues, then yes, I do want to be remembered for those things.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite national officer Dominic Hook hailed the work that Margaret and other bank branches workers are now doing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and called for action from the banks to protect their safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMembers working in bank branches have continued to go to work and provide essential services to their communities and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time they were recognised for this important work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSome banks need to work much harder to get the message across to the public about whether their visit to a branch is essential and provide clear guidance in the branch.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Name changed to protect privacy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Hajera Blagg<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, on the first anniversary of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first lockdown, UNITElive is featuring some of the top stories we have covered on the pandemic and our members\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 contributions, concerns and achievements. Back in May, we spoke to Unite rep and bank worker Margaret, who told of the struggles they faced working at the height […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308],"tags":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21342"}],"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=21342"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28231,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21342\/revisions\/28231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}