THE BUSTAMANTE Industrial Trade Union (BITU) wants a meeting with the management of the Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) to discuss the tenure of the bank's unionised employees.
Senator Ruddy Spencer, BITU senior vice-president, says that during the last 12 months, "the bank has intermittently implemented redundancy exercises, each time indicating that there is more to come".
He said that it was impossible for the workers to produce quality and productive service in that state of uncertainty. "This kind of indetermination only produces mental stress and trauma for the workers," he said.
"This is compounded by the fact that the bank, in making the employees redundant, seems to be focusing on the reduction of the regular workforce, thereby creating a large pool of part-time and contract workers. This situation is unacceptable," Senator Spencer said in a letter to managing director William Clarke.
Asked for a comment, the bank's Human Resource Development manager Rion Hall said that they will meet with the union to discuss the matter, but was not prepared to make a public response.
Asked about the charge of part-time and contract workers replacing those being made redundant, he said: "The bank is a dynamic place and we conduct business as needs be."
