Bank union strikes over holiday work
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Your support makes all the difference.Staff at the Royal Bank of Scotland went on strike yesterday in protest at a management decision to "anglicise" their holidays.
Members of the banking union Unifi were demonstrating over the company's insistence on opening 105 branches on 2 January, when many other Scottish workers are enjoying a public holiday.
Management has offered its employees Easter Monday off, when most Scots are working, the union says.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has also shifted the normal Scottish August bank holiday to the end of the month to match the arrangement in England. That means many RBS employees will be off work when their children are back at school.
After protests by the union, the bank abandoned plans for a normal working day on 2 January and opened a third of its branches for four and a half hours. Management said that with the help of volunteers, paid their normal wage rate, the working branches "served a steady stream of customers". A company spokeswoman said the strike was supported by fewer than 30 of its employees.
Rob MacGregor, a senior Unifi official, claimed the stoppage had been well supported and accused management of "sheer arrogant tokenism" in insisting on partial opening. The rival Bank of Scotland decided to stay closed yesterday and other banks north of the border opted for limited opening with staff paid overtime rates or offered days off in lieu, Mr MacGregor said.
He claimed there was "anecdotal evidence" some RBS staff had been instructed to work, despite the bank's insistence it used volunteers. Mr MacGregor said: "It's recognised by just about everybody as a public holiday. What the bank has basically done is anglicise the bank holidays in Scotland."
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