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Trade union Solidarity recently announced it would be launching a massive campaign to put a stop to the retrenchments at Absa. The Stop Absa campaign’s slogan will be “Today, tomorrow, goodbye“.

More information about the campaign is available at www.stopabsa.co.za.

The campaign will include, among other things, thousands of protest messages to Marcus Agius, the Chairman of Barclays in England. Solidarity will use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube videos to garner public support for the campaign.

The letter to Agius reads as follows:

Dear Mr Marcus Agius,

Stop the retrenchments at Absa.

Absa is planted in African soil. Its roots are in the people of Africa and, in particular, South Africa. It has therefore taken on the character of the people of South Africa.

This character is one of caring for others. Here in Africa, we believe people shape each other and that it is important to look after one another. Absa used to be known as the people’s bank: its clients were like family who were loyal to it; its employees were treated like humans, not numbers. This is no longer the case.

Over the past year, Absa embarked on a restructuring programme which is now in full swing. Our information is that Barclays instructed Absa to cut its personnel expenses by 10%. This process is being executed in a callous and aggressive manner.

Employees of Absa relate how they were informed that their posts were redundant; that they were immediately instructed to pack up their belongings and to hand in their laptops; and that they were escorted out like criminals. They relate how, after 20, 30 and, in some cases, even 40 years of service, they were escorted out while tears were streaming down their colleagues’ faces.

Absa is refusing to disclose the full scope of its restructuring programme. No one knows how many people are going to be affected by the process. No one knows who is going to be the next to pack up and leave. The next group of employees’ services will be terminated on 31 March 2012.

It is clear that Barclays’ hold on Absa is getting stronger. Your restructuring programme at Absa has restructured the culture at Absa. The people’s bank has been ‘retrenched’. You want to extract the culture of caring, which is characteristic of Africa, from the bank. This is not the way we operate in South Africa and we will not allow it.

There is no room for a ruthless, uncaring approach to doing business in our country. We, as concerned South Africans, therefore inform you that we are participating in a Stop Absa campaign. Our demand is simple: Stop the current programme of restructuring and retrenchment at Absa. The process is fundamentally immoral and has brought methods of retrenchment to South Africa that we are unfamiliar with and don’t want to be familiar with.

In short, our demand is: Stop the retrenchments at Absa.

Yours faithfully,

Concerned South African

SA urged to join the campaign

“We call on Absa personnel and all other South Africans to participate in the campaign,” said Dirk Hermann, Deputy General Secretary of Solidarity.

The public can send letters of protest regarding the Absa retrenchments to the Chairman of Barclays via the webpage www.stopabsa.co.za. Alternatively, they can text the word ‘Absa’ to 34388 (R2 per SMS) to support the campaign. The campaign can also be followed on Twitter at #stopabsa.