HBOS - the blame game
by Linda Somerville, UNITE Rep Finance Sector (personal capacity)
All week the blame game has continued - as Alex Salmond blamed Gordon
Brown's economic policies for the current crisis in the finance sector,
Gordon Brown blamed the global economy and 'an age of irresponsibility'.
In the US the Democrats blamed the Republicans and the American banks
all blamed each other.
We were even informed by Archie Kane, the chief executive of Scottish
Widows, that it was our own fault “everybody is responsible, from consumers
all the way to investment bankers. Everybody has been involved in what
has happened and everybody has fueled it" he said.
I can only assume that he is willing to take a greater share of the
blame than finance workers, since on a salary of £1.25 million a year
I think he might have consumed a bit more than the average finance worker
in the last few years. Despite all the hype about well paid jobs in the
sector the starting salary in most finance jobs is £11,500 and after
5 years as a customer services advisor you would be lucky to be earning
£15,800.
After the week we have just witnessed many workers are now terrified
that they will not have any salary in the near future. Job losses announced
this week include 1,100 jobs in HSBC and at least 370 at Bradford and
Bingley, that is if they can stay afloat until next week. The turmoil
in the markets has effected every part of the sector as share prices
crash in banks and insurance companies throughout the world.
Here, in Scotland, the problems are only just beginning. The biggest
story in the Scottish finance sector is the proposed merger of Halifax
Bank Of Scotland and Lloyds TSB. Billed positively as a great opportunity
to create a superbank or negatively as a ruthless takeover as the strong
eat the weak, the result is the same for the workers – devastating news
as they see their savings in the company disappear and the prospect of
redundancy looms.
Workers throughout the company were in shock as they heard the news confirmed
last week that HBOS was to be merged with Lloyds TSB. The following day
staff in many areas were in tears, angry and upset as they tried to make
sense of the events unfolding before them. Their tears were real unlike
those cried all over the Scottish press as everyone and their dog lined
up to testify their love and commitment to the Bank of Scotland.
Alongside the outpouring of sentimental nonsense over the death of a
Scottish institution the press began to identify where they thought the
jobs would be slashed. High street branches are the obvious target with
HBOS and Lloyds TSB in the same towns all over Scotland. Big savings
will also occur in the back office processing areas where thousands of
workers are based.
Alex Salmond moved swiftly to raise his own profile as the saviour of
the Bank of Scotland holding talks with Lloyds TSB and hosting the Scottish
Council for Development and Industry summit. A special debate was held
in the Scottish Parliament where Scottish Labour attacked Salmond on
his 'spivs and speculators'' comments. Consensus was almost total as
the party voices merged into a 'Save our Bank' chant. The New Labour
hypocrites who are now calling for tighter regulation of the sector were
the same politicians who were previously delighted to take credit for
the growing economy.
If there was ever an example needed of why socialists should be in parliament
then that debate was it. When the house of straw that is the finance
sector and is meant to provide the backbone of the Scottish economy is
collapsing then surely some hard headed political analysis was required.
Yet no one questioned the economic model that has brought us this crisis,
no one suggested that it was unrestrained capitalist greed that caused
this crisis, no one even proposed that there could be an alternative.
The crisis is real for the workers in the finance sector who don't know
if they will have jobs to go to next week or next year and who their
employer will be. The crisis for Scotland may just be beginning and the
SSP has a unique role to play in encouraging debate and educating those
around us on who is really to blame for this mess.