Standard Bank wants to re-hire staff it fired for refusing to comply with its now scrapped mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policy, a workplace health and safety regime it repealed earlier this week after union threats to challenge the policy in court.
Africa’s biggest lender by assets has also stopped all workplace incapacity hearings for unvaccinated staff, who are now being welcomed back to work, the bank said in a statement on Friday. Unvaccinated employees are also no longer required to undergo PCR or rapid antigen tests before they can access Standard Bank premises.
“Unfortunately there are a number of unvaccinated employees that we parted company with, after they declined the alternative of testing which had been offered to them,” Standard Bank SA CEO Lungisa Fuzile said. “Following the withdrawal of the [mandatory vaccination] policy, we are engaging with these colleagues to explore re-employment opportunities, as we feel strongly that this is the right thing to do.”
Standard Bank withdrew its mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policy on Monday, just three days after finance union Sasbo, which represents about 73,000 members in the financial services sector, vowed to fight the policy after at least 40 of its members were dismissed by the bank for non-compliance. A day after Standard Bank scrapped its mandatory vaccination policy, Cosatu announced that it too would be challenging mandatory Covid-19 vaccination at a “national, policy level”.
Though Cosatu said it encouraged people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 it could not abide by workers being fired for non-compliance with mandatory vaccination policies, which it said had become polarising and divisive. The labour federation also said it wanted workers who have been dismissed for non-compliance with mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policies in the workplace to be reinstated. Cosatu’s stance was roundly echoed by other labour groupings including the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa), the National Council of Trade Unions and the SA Federation of Trade Unions.
“Cosatu congratulates its affiliated union in the banking and financial services sector, Sasbo, for forcing Standard Bank to scrap its illegal mandatory vaccination programme,” the labour federation said in a statement on July 12, a day after Standard Bank repealed its Covid-19 vaccination policy following pressure from Sasbo.
“We call for the immediate reinstatement of 40 bank workers, who were unfairly dismissed by Standard Bank for not vaccinating against Covid-19,” Cosatu said in reference to the Sasbo members that had been affected by the bank’s policy.
Standard Bank now says that given the high Covid-19 vaccination rate among its staff, which it estimates is at about 95%, coupled with the easing of SA’s pandemic regulations, that mandatory vaccination is no longer a necessity. It also argues that its introduction of a mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policy “was the right decision” as it had an obligation to provide a safe working environment for its employees.
“We continue to support and encourage vaccination to ensure the wellbeing of our employees, our clients and their loved ones,” Fuzile said.
Sasbo general secretary Modime Joe Kokela said while the finance union welcomed Standard Bank’s desire to re-hire staff dismissed for non-compliance with mandatory workplace vaccination, it wanted to see tangible evidence of its new stance. He also said the union would be engaging with Standard Bank on the terms of re-employment for its affected members.
“We welcome this change of heart, but there is more to engage on,” Kokela said. “There needs to be a dialogue on where we go from here. Will the affected members be re-hired on the basis of a continuation of service or do they have to start from scratch?”
Standard Bank’s rapid about-turn on vaccines is likely to pile pressure on other firms that have dismissed workers for refusing to comply with these policies. Old Mutual has sacked at least 49 Sasbo members for refusing both Covid-19 vaccination and the option to undergo regular testing for the virus.
However, the insurance and investment group has since amended its workplace Covid-19 policies and as of June 2022 mandatory vaccination for employees is no longer required. Kokela says Sasbo has sent a letter to Old Mutual demanding the reinstatement of its members and though the notice has been acknowledged, he says the firm has not indicated whether it will re-engage the affected employees.
“Old Mutual is the next focus area,” said Kokela, adding that Sasbo views mandatory workplace vaccination as a ploy by companies to reduce staff numbers.
“We see these mandates as a restructuring tool that is used to retrench workers,” he said.
Insurance group Discovery is one of the few listed firms that continues to impose a mandatory vaccination policy though the firm told Business Day this past week it had not dismissed anyone for non-compliance as 98% of its staff are vaccinated.
theunisseng@businesslive.co.za
Update: July 15 2022
This article has been updated with additional information
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