Although the recently extended working hours might be considered convenient to most Standard Chartered Bank customers, employees of the bank at the Game City branch are reportedly unhappy with the development.
From Monday to Friday, the bank opens at 8:30 in the morning and closes at seven in the evening; from 8:30 in the morning to four in the afternoon on Saturdays; and from nine in the morning to one in the afternoon on Sundays.
In the January 28th 2010 issue of the Sunday Standard, the bank’s head of corporate affairs, Ithabeleng Letsunyane, had been quoted saying that “they realized that the existing banking hours were inconvenient for some customers who cannot make it during normal working hours and thus had to use, for example, their lunch hour to do banking. She had said that the new extended hours gave clients a choice about what time they wanted to bank”.
The Secretary General of the Botswana Bank Employees Union (BOBEU), Keitshokile Basuti, said the bank disregarded the Commissioner of Labour’s advice by implementing the extended working hours without the union’s consent.
“This matter between us and the bank might end up going to court; it’s just that we are currently waiting to appear at the Commissioner of Labour again,” said Basuti.
The issue of extended working hours was first initiated by the bank in 2008, upon consulting the union, but a conflict of terms arose.
Standard Bank, through its head of Department, Human Resources, Kamogelo Chiusiwa, had then decided to schedule a meeting for the 7th of July, a meeting at which the union would be informed of the programme to be implemented on the 15th of that month.
Chiusiwa had then said that the union should be aware that the meeting was “to give you clarity on how the extended hours will be working, therefore whatever questions, or misunderstanding that you may currently have will be addressed at the meeting”.
At loggerheads over the issue, the bank and BOBEU were brought before the attention of a mediator, in the form of the Commissioner of Labour.
The commissioner of labour then referred the matter back to both parties, asking them to consult each other further.
The bank and the union were then involved in another dispute when they both disagreed on whether the extended hours issue was a negotiable one or a consultative one.
“The Bank had prematurely reported the matter, alleging Union refusal to discuss the matter and seeking commissioner to clarify whether it was a negotiable or consultative matter, the bank alleging delay from side of the union,” said Basuti.
On December 1st the bank circulated an internal memo in which it alerted the staff about the implementation of the new hours.
Late last year, the union embarked on a demonstration where they handed a petition to the then Managing Director of Standard Chartered, David Cutting.
One of the issues raised in the petition was the bank’s tendency to implement matters before agreement with BOBEU; the extended working hours were amongst the issues brought forward.
This also led to union staff boycotting a function at Town Hall Meeting at Gaborone Sun in December. BOBEU said that this was an effort to show management that they were unhappy with its conduct regarding its workers.
“We are not happy with the way they are treating employees and taking staff issues lightly. We are busy consulting our members on strategies and way forward and the Executive will also meet shortly to look at broader issues affecting our members. We will relentlessly fight until justice for our members is archived,” said Basuti.
