JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The South African Society of Bank Officials (SASBO) threatened to bring the country's banking sector to a standstill when its over 73,000 members embark on a two-day strike next month over looming retrenchments.
The country's largest union in banking industry, founded in 1916, said Tuesday at least 10,000 workers might be retrenched before the end of this year if nothing happens.
"We have a decision to take this thing to the streets, we will be having our two-day industrial action, there shall not be banking for two-days," SASBO's Secretary General Modime Joe Kokela told Xinhua.
While several banks including Standard Bank and Absa have already retrenched thousands of workers this year, SASBO said the "bloodbath" was still ongoing.
"We received a notice from Nedbank about its plans to lay off 3,000 workers, others are planning to do the same thing," he said.
Kokela said the union wanted a moratorium on layoffs. It also wanted banking institutions to re-skill workers before implementing retrenchments.
He revealed that the union was holding talks with other unions who might be keen to be part of the industrial action and whose members might be impacted by the 4th industrial revolution.
"We want others to join us when we raise these concerns so that our voices can be heard," he said. Enditem
