Motion no: 15
Securing decent jobs in the financial services is the core aim of Financial Services Union (FSU).
A declining traditional retail banking sector has seen the loss of thousands of decent jobs. These jobs had union recognition, good conditions, pensions and transparent pay structures. Factors such as increased competition and digitalisation, as well as the move towards a European banking union, are placing jobs at risk and also challenging hours of work, job quality and working conditions in the sector.
As a union we are committed to defending our members’ jobs in the traditional banking sector but we also see the urgent need to unionise work elsewhere in the sector to ensure a drive to the top rather than a race to the bottom.
We have seen new entrants into the market with cool apps like Revolut but appalling working conditions behind their slick façade. Unless unionised, these companies will not provide a better future for all.
To build a better future for all we need to win fairly paid finance jobs across all of the sector.
To do this we need to campaign and organise.
We call on affiliate unions and Congress
to support FSU’s growth campaigns in the financial services sector to ensure decent secure employment for working people and their families.
In this regard we congratulate our colleagues in Australia on their successful “change the rules” campaign and we call on Congress and its affiliated organisations, North and South, to campaign for legislative changes to provide for:
The right to access and organise working people in their workplace.
The right to represent, collectively bargain and be recognised for our members.
The right to take meaningful industrial action quickly and effectively if it is required to pursue the interests of our members; and
That where a company has received any State support or is contracted by any State Department, Body, Agency, Local Authority or State funded project, that a condition of that support be union recognition.
These changes would greatly enhance the ability of unions to organise and therefore to win greater job security, pay and conditions for workers and their families. They would raise the standard for all workers and transform Ireland from being a low paid hub to an island of decent jobs and decent working conditions for all.
