00:00TV6 News spoke via telephone on Tuesday with Joanne Thomas, the Deputy Secretary-General
00:05of the new union seeking to represent employees at Republic Bank Limited, RBL.
00:10So the name of the union is Republic Workers' Union, that was registered on the 1st of May
00:16this year, 2024, and we currently do not have any numbers on record.
00:22The RWU provided TV6 News with a copy of their Certificate of Registration signed by the
00:28Registrar of Trade Unions. The RWU's Deputy Secretary-General confirmed that the union
00:34wants to represent RBL employees who either presently belong to the Banking Insurance
00:40and General Workers' Union, BEGWU, or who do not belong to any trade union.
00:45Applications for membership are pouring in. However, the processing of membership is being
00:50delayed as we are still awaiting Republic Bank to open the necessary bank accounts.
00:55These bank accounts are important in ensuring the transparent and accurate management of dues.
01:00However, we expect that this process will be concluded very soon.
01:03And the RWU responded to statements made during a media conference on Saturday by Hugo Henry,
01:09who spoke on behalf of BEGWU's General Council about the expulsion of two former members
01:16of its Central Executive, who were part of the union's Branch Executive at RBL, before
01:22he issued a warning to RBL employees not to leave BEGWU.
01:53On Tuesday, TV6 News spoke with Mr. Henry from BEGWU via telephone.
01:57Which Collective Bargaining Unit are they speaking of?
02:00Because, yes, we understand that the Collective Bargaining Unit would cover all employees,
02:07whether the employees were unionized or not, but with respect to grievances and so on and so forth.
02:12And also, there's something known as the RMU, which is the Recognized Majority Union.
02:18And BEGWU is the Recognized Majority Union.
02:21Ms. Thomas said the issue is about the level of representation RBL employees are receiving.
02:26Currently, members and non-members of BEGWU, who are workers of RBL, currently have the same level of representation, which is not.
02:36We have members who have gone as far as engaging attorneys to force BEGWU to give them proper representation
02:45by the issuance of pre-action protocol letters.
02:47Mr. Henry said there are members of BEGWU who feel differently, indicating that there are those who are satisfied with BEGWU.
02:55And as RWU seems intent on becoming the majority recognized union at RBL, Mr. Henry spoke about the process.
03:04Then they would have to apply for the recognition, whereby BEGWU now could also challenge this recognition.
03:10And even if it comes into play, just waiting for the recognition, or to recognize this new entity,
03:16which normally takes about two years.
03:19So you're looking at about two years plus before this entity is recognized by the bank
03:25in order for any kind of negotiations or grievances or anything like that to take place.
03:30Mr. Henry said it can be a lengthy process.
03:33This process could extend to about two to three years.
03:37And this is, you're talking about two to three years without protection.
03:41The RWU says BEGWU's certification, as they recognize the majority union at RBL, is not permanent.
03:48Once a union has the majority of workers in a bargaining unit, once they have their membership, they could get recognition.
03:58And also, if the union who currently has the recognition certificate for them gets decertified.
04:05So it could happen either way.
04:07The RWU's Deputy Secretary General said that certification is determined by the Labor Ministry's Registration Recognition and Certification Board.
04:17Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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