TSB should go back to basic banking and the measures introduced in the first lockdown with immediate effect. Staff safety must be TSB’s first priority, not money confidence!
The Prime Minister announced last night that people in all of England must now stay at home except for a handful of permitted reasons. The new lockdown measures in England will come into force legally in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The First Minister of Scotland issued her own stay at home message which is already in force and will last until the end of January at the earliest. Wales and Northern Ireland are already in national lockdowns.
According to the Prime Minister the new rules were introduced because hospitals are under “more pressure from Covid than at any time since the start of the pandemic”. To put that into perspective, there are now almost 24,957 people with Covid in hospitals in England – 32% more than the April peak of 18,974. Admissions are also at the April peak levels, and that’s on top of much higher occupancy levels. We know that the new variant of Covid is between 50-70% more transmissible. Professor Alex Gandy of Imperial College says: “This is the most serious change in the virus since the pandemic began”.
Back to Basics
TSB should go back to basic banking with reduced hours and customers must be discouraged from visiting branches. Visiting a branch to discuss a car loan, for example, should not be a permitted reason for leaving home. There should be no local exceptions. And “basic” banking means “basic” banking. TSB should also make sure that those staff who can work from home, can do so with immediate effect.
In TSB it is still possible to be working in branch A on a Monday, branch B on a Wednesday and branch C on a Friday. We’ve said before that such a stupid policy is highly dangerous in the current environment and needs to be stopped immediately. Debbie Crosbie needs to personally intervene and stop that policy now.
Staff safety should be TSB’s number one priority and when branches are closed staff should be allowed to go home. Staff must not be forced to stay behind to do invented jobs just because TSB is too tightfisted to let them go home early to avoid rush hours when the risks of contact are greatest.
And given the increased levels of transmissibility from this new variant of the virus, TSB should undertake an immediate review of its Covid procedures to ensure they can still protect staff and customers.
Members with any questions on this should contact the Union’s Advice Team on 01234 716029 (choose Option 1).