Unite pledges support for Bradford and Bingley union
29 September 2008
Unite, Britain's biggest union, has vowed to support its sister
union UBAC (the union representing staff at Bradford and Bingley)
during the banking crisis which has hit Bradford and Bingley.
Derek Simpson, Unite joint general secretary, says:"Unite is
standing alongside our sister union in a time of great insecurity
in the financial services. All those building societies that shed
their mutuality have either collapsed or are near collapse. The
communities they served have lost out, but hard-working staff must
not pay the price for corporate greed.
"As mergers and take-overs intensify, the staff working in the
financial services must be protected. They are not the big city
bankers who caused the credit crunch.
"This situation should never happen again and that's why the
financial services needs to be regulated more effectively. We
welcome Gordon Brown's efforts to secure an international
regulatory regime."
Unite believes the de-mutualisation of building societies in the
mid 1990's has been an unmitigated disaster. All those building
societies who shed their mutuality have either
collapsed, are near
collapse or have been
taken over . None
have been able to survive as a separate entity, all because they
went after share value and profits rather than serving the
customers and communities on which their original success
was based.
ENDS
Contact: Ciaran Naidoo 07768 931 315
