Banking on Insecurity

Worker rights violations in Colombia, as elsewhere in Latin America, are not limited to murder and violence but can take more subtle yet still effective forms, as evidenced in a study of the banking sector in Colombia prepared by former USLEAP Regional Coordinator Suzanna Collerd.   In recent interviews with workers at two major banks in Colombia, HSBC and Santander, Ms. Collerd found that “these two banks demonstrate ways that employers use alternative tactics to debilitate unions and increase workers’ productivity through subtle and direct messages about job insecurity.”   Thestudy was prepared for the global union federation UNI and its campaign to support bank workers at the Santander and HSBC banks.