| "You've put our jobs at risk!" |
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| Written by Editor |
| Tuesday, 10 February 2009 09:57 |
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Policy News: Unite members from across the financial services sector will protest today outside a hearing where senior banking executives will be questioned. The workers from banks and insurance companies will protest at the hearing of the Treasury Select Committee, where the chief executives of the largest finance companies are being questioned. The bankers who led Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) and HBOS to the brink of collapse will offer a public apology today. Sir Fred Goodwin and Sir Tom McKillop, respectively the former chief executive and chairman of RBS, will express their regrets at a meeting of the Treasury Select Committee. Their expressions of remorse will be echoed by Andy Hornby, the former chief executive of HBOS and Lord Stevenson of Coddenham, its former chairman, reports the Times. Unite has said the message that is to be delivered by workers will be: "Remember us? You've put our jobs at risk!" Unite has drawn up a Social Contract for the financial services sector which is calling the Government and finance companies to adhere to. The five principles are: 1) Recognition of Unite as a key stakeholder in the future of the financial services industry. 2) To ensure the employment security of employees in the finance sector. 3) To protect and improve the terms and conditions of employees, including pension arrangements 4) End the remuneration packages of senior executives which reward short-termism and irresponsible risk taking. 5) Overhaul of the regulatory structures of the financial services sector to include trade union involvement in order to enhance the accountability of finance institutions Meanwhile it has emerged that Britain's biggest banks face a multimillion-pound legal action brought by their own employees to force them to pay bonuses, The Independent has learnt. Claims are being prepared by lawyers representing scores of bankers working across the financial sector who have been made redundant or told they will miss out on awards this year. 
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