The National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) says it is currently seeking to organise and represent Republic Bank (RBL) Guyana employees.
In a press release NAACIE said General Secretary Kenneth Joseph has mobilised some of the union’s members to share their experiences and the advantages of union membership with the Bank’s staff, in response to a request from members of the said staff. “RBL workers are definitely interested in becoming unionised, especially in the aftermath [of] the bank’s ABM robbery when workers were accused and terminated,” he said, adding “but for some reason it seems that they are extremely fearful of being targeted by management.”
Joseph said, however, that he was confident that the Bank’s management will consider its workers becoming unionised. “Republic Bank, its founders and its principals have a tradition of corporate democracy and worker-friendly relations, in that Republic Bank’s parent company employees have been organised since the nineteen seventies,” the union said. It also said it did not anticipate any undue hostility by RBL Guyana if their workers choose to join the union.
NAACIE said a leading Trinidad Trade Union, Banking Insurance and General Workers Union has organised for union representation for workers in banks, credit unions and insurances companies. As such it has requested the services of Unions Network International (UNI) from Trinidad to travel to Georgetown to assist in sensitising their RBL Guyana counterparts.
