BIGWU on the Air
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Making Union Members Global Players
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Union Network International (UNI) is the skills and services international launched on January 1, 2000. Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union
(BIGWU) is an affiliate member of this new global union for a new millennium and a new economy. BIGWU is therefore a part of the trade union response to
increasing economic regionalisation and globalisation and to the convergence of what were, in the past, separate industries.
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Dismissal by Transfer
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Today we feature another case involving an employee of the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago who was dismissed by the Bank and who came to the
BIGWU for representation. In this case the employee held the position of Manager and he was transferred from one department of the Bank to another.
He had acquired a great deal of experience in his former department where he had obtained certificates in fraud and crime detection since his area of work
pertained to the Bank’s security.
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Dismissal Without a Hearing
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Over the years, the BIGWU has successfully handled a number of matters reported to us by employees of the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. In one such matter a female worker who joined the Bank in 1999 as a Teller, at its Tobago branch, was falsely accused and dismissed by the Employer in the year
2000 without giving her a letter of dismissal. To add insult to injury, the Manager wrote to the worker some two weeks later informing her that since she
had not reported for work, the Bank had concluded that she had abandoned her job. This type of dismissal is a common practice of employers and finds its roots in the common law employment relationship .
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Programme Eleven: Sick Building Syndrome
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All Bank workers and office workers should know about Sick Building
Syndrome. This is a term used to describe the non-specific complaints by which
a high percentage of occupants in a building experience acute adverse health and
comfort effects that are apparently linked to the time they spend in the building
but to which no specific cause can be identified.
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Programme Ten: BIGWU and the Young Worker
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Young workers comprise the majority of employees at Banks in Trinidad and Tobago. However, many young people do not understand the role of the Trade Union and what part they can play as a Union member. In fact many young workers question the relevance of a Trade Union. Today, many young people entering the world of work are sometimes unable to relate to the perspective of the Trade Union Movement.
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Programme Nine: The Union and Maternity Benefits
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On March 11, 1998, the Maternity Protection Act, No. 4 of 1998 was enacted in Trinidad and Tobago to provide for a minimum level of Maternity Leave benefits and protection for female workers in our twin-island Republic.
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Programme Eight: Bank Employees Deserve Better Salaries
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TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO is a deeply religious society. In addition to the well-known major religions there are numerous churches and congregations who subscribe to a particular belief system. In spite of divergence of belief, nearly everyone possesses some kind of spiritual understanding. Religion in the main does not support oppression and injustice. Trade unionism likewise does not support oppression and injustice. In fact Trade Unionism actively struggles against injustice and any form of oppression.
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Programme Seven: Injury on the Job
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Should I be injured on the job what is the responsibility of my Employer? This question is asked on many occasions in a work situation! In an office, like the sedentary environment of media workers, finance workers and managerial employees, back injury is a common complaint, due to inadequate seating arrangements.
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Programme Six: Frequently Asked Questions
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What exactly is a Trade Union? Why should I join a Trae Union? Can Anyone Join a Trade Union? All these questions and more are answered.
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Programme Five: Your Contract of Employment
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In instances where an Employer presents a contract for your consideration and I use the word consideration in inverted commas, such an employment contract usually contains the bare minimum or skeletal framework of terms of your employment.
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Programme Four: Secure Your Independence
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It is a matter of historical record that the Trade Union Movement, after its legal emergence following the labour riots of 1937, played a leading role in the anti-colonial struggle and movement towards achieving political independence on August 31, 1962.
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Programme Three: Managerial Employees Need Protection
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Managerial Employees have been characterised as an endangered specie! Why this drastic description? Most managerial employees do not join a Trade Union, until possibly they are dismissed or happen to be facing the wrath of an arbitrary employer. Managerial employees are sometimes seen by other workers as “the boss”, not understanding that most managerial employees simply carry out instructions, which have been handed down to them. A management employee qualifies for Trade Union membership, except where that employee is deemed “not a worker, within the meaning of the Act”, by the Registration, Recognition and Certification Board.
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Programme Two: The Leadership
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If you are a finance sector worker, or a managerial employee or a media worker, you may be considering becoming a member of the Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union because this Trade Union represents the interest of media and finance workers as well as managerial employees. One of the issues which you may take into consideration is the question of the leadership and technical capability of the BIGWU. Let us examine who comprise the leadership of the BIGWU and the technical capability of that distinguished leadership.
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Programme One: Introduction
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The Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union or (BIGWU) is a merger of the Bank Employees Union and the Bank and General Workers Union. Both Unions were formed in 1974 and have come together with the vision to organize all remaining workers who are not already unionized in the Financial Sector and the Media Sector, in other words all managerial and service sector employees.
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