PHILIPSBURG:--- "The OSPP has previously suggested a reasonable pay-out package for the RBC workers to be laid off, says Lenny Priest, and some have commented disparagingly at our proposal. We however feel that anyone who finds our proposal unreasonable, or question RBC's ability to offer the compensation we proposed, knows nothing of the record profits RBC posted in 2012. Nor can our detractors be aware that RBC is among the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We do not expect those that criticized our suggestion; know that about the same time that the local branch of RBC informed thirteen of its employees of their eminent dismissal, the parent company disclosed that it had committed itself to over $95million in donations and sponsorships to world charities over the next three to four years. Thus, the OSPP is in no doubt that RBC is well able, to write off the mortgages of its soon-to-be-let-go employees. They should not try to shun their responsibilities as a corporate citizen and they must also remember that charity begins at home. We think firstly that RBC should not be permitted to create disruption to our fragile economy and social displacement to so many families by sending home these employees, without reasonable economic rationalization for this. It is virtually impossible for RBC St Maarten to present justification for this move, or it would have done so. The only reason given so far – reorganization – downsizing may make the world of sense to RBC, but means nothing to us beyond the hardships so far encountered through its defective services over the months, and the expected upheaval that will follow the complete closure of certain aspects of its local operations. To us, it is a choice of either compensating the employees adequately, or re-deploy these workers, and not at the expense of other sectors of the institution. Certainly, a bank that claims to be interested in "strengthening the social fabric of the communities in which [it] operates" must know that its chosen priorities should reflect those of the community in which it exists, and that our community also needs investments, not the divestment it aims to bring unto the thirteen and unknown others .
OSPP Press Release
