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UNI Finance – Barclays Global Alliance

Workers’ rights and social responsibility at Barclays

Background Barclays is one of the biggest and most recognised names in global banking. It operates in more than 50 countries and territories around the world and boasts almost 50 million customers. With profits of £5.5 billion dollars in 2014, Barclays is the seventh-largest bank worldwide and its success is reflected in its payments to top staff such as CEO Anthony Jenkins who was awarded a total package of £5.5 million in 2014.

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The story for the majority of Barclays’ staff is, however, much more mixed. In May 2014, the bank announced a huge restructuring plan for Europe with a loss of 19,000 jobs expected across the next three years. Recent staff surveys show worryingly high stress levels amongst employees reflecting a dangerous and widespread health issue across the finance sector. Barclays employees have spoken of their frustration at large executive bonuses arriving at a time when employees are struggling on a daily basis under job losses, low wages and sales pressure. UNI Finance is the Global Union for finance and insurance workers and represents 3 million employees in more than 200 trade unions worldwide. UNI Finance believes that for Barclays to be a truly responsible and respected employer it is essential that the voices and opinions of its workers must be heard and respected. The UNI Finance Barclays Alliance calls on Barclays to lift its standards globally by raising minimum wages for employees who work hard every day to add value to the company. Barclays is a certified “Living Wage” employer in the UK and the UNI Barclays Alliance is asking the company to do the same in other countries outside the UK, especially in Southern Europe and Africa. Introduction The aim of this report is to provide an insight into some of Barclays’ key strengths and weaknesses as an employer and as a socially responsible business. The profile of Barclays contained herein is neither exhaustive nor comprehensive. Barclays has long represented itself as a socially responsible bank. For example, from 2003 to 2009, it was one of twelve corporate members of the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights (BLIHR) and volunteered to “test drive” the UN Norms on Business and Human Rights despite a lack of support from many companies for fear that they would lead to binding commitments to respect human rights. Barclays is a long-time member of the UN Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI), which seeks to integrate sustainability concerns into the financial system. The bank is also a member of the Carbon Disclosure Project, was one of the earliest signatories of the Equator Principles and is a signatory of the Wolfsberg Principles on anti-money laundering. It was a founding member of the Thun Group on Human Rights, which has laid the groundwork for the banking sector’s implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Some of Barclay’s poor practices have taken a toll on its reputation in recent years. It has suffered a slide in its ESG (environmental, social and governance) ratings due to serious breaches of business ethics, product integrity and corporate governance. Its behavior has been the object of severe criticism not only by civil society organizations but also by investors, consumers and government regulatory agencies. While the scandals with which it has been associated led to new management being put at the helm, the company is still under heavy scrutiny for many aspects of its ESG performance.

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1 Barclays Corporate Profile: key strengths and weaknesses

1.1 Strengths/Positive aspects

Human rights commitments

In Barclays’ human rights statement of December 2010, the very first principle reads: “We will create a universal employment environment that promotes and protects the rights of the individual.”1 In the statement’s appendix, Barclays says it is committed to respecting the ILO Core Conventions. It also cites a UNI Finance survey of 2007 in which Barclays “was rated top among 25 major financial institutions in respect of union rights and freedom of association.” Barclays was one of the four banks that founded the Thun Group (May 2011) to explore the implications of the UN Guiding Principles for the banking sector. In October 2013, the group, by then 7 banks, released a discussion paper on the UNGPs and banks. To their credit, the banks acknowledged that there was a moral case and not just a business case for human rights. But as critics noted, the paper showed a lack of attention to banks’ potential impact on the human rights of their own employees and customers, failed to address the impacts of lobbying and tax avoidance, and did not address access to remedy.2 Its integral role in the Thun Group opens Barclays to questions about how it addresses human rights in its own operations.

Employee mental health Since 2012, Barclays has worked with a number of NGOs and foundations to raise awareness of mental health issues. Barclays notes that its “This is me” campaign shows employees “talking openly and frankly” about how they have faced mental health challenges. The campaign aims to show that mental health conditions do not define a person, and to raise awareness of the support Barclays can provide.3 “This is me” is part of the company’s internal policy review on mental health, and according to a recent source, the company had planned to roll the campaign website out internationally in late 2014, “starting with South Africa, then Asia and the U.S.4 In October 2014 Barclays signed the “Time to Change” pledge in the UK, an NGO program to challenge mental health stigma. The bank’s actions as part of this pledge include: integrating mental health into “all relevant HR policies”, identifying training needs and improving mental health service to staff. 5

1 http://www.barclays.com/content/dam/barclayspublic/docs/Citizenship/Policy‐Positions/barclays‐statement‐human‐rights.pdf  2 See for example, D. de Felice, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2477126  3 http://www.jobs.barclays.co.uk/connect‐with‐us/barclays‐this‐is‐me‐campaign‐for‐mental‐health/  4 http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/168b1854‐5877‐11e4‐a31b‐00144feab7de.html#axzz3V5xWHiWG  5 http://www.time‐to‐change.org.uk/node/97717  

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In a job advertisement, for example, Barclays states, “Our recruitment process doesn’t discriminate, so if you’re keen and willing to work hard, Barclays will support you to stay healthy.”6

Employee Pay/Living Wage In 2013 Barclays was accredited as a UK Living Wage employer, which recognized the Bank’s “commitment to ensure that all its employees and those employees of third party contractors who provide services to us at our sites, are paid at least the current London or UK Living Wage.” It has also extended this commitment to its UK apprentices.7 On its website, Barclays highlighted recent research on the business case for a living wage, noting that for the bank, this includes “improving employee engagement, building union relationships and helping win new business.” Barclays says it has supported the living wage since 2003.8 Unions are calling on the company to lift its standards outside the UK by raising minimum wages for the Barclays employees who work hard every day to add value to the company while living on low minimum wages in Africa but also in Southern Europe. In African countries such as Uganda or Tanzania, workers do not have a voice on the job as the local unions are not being fully recognized by the company. In Botswana, Barclays is employing a large number of contract workers on a short-term basis who are not covered by the collective agreement. In Zimbabwe, the union represents nearly 83% of the workforce but the starting salary is still very low. A new employee would need to work 1136 years to earn as much as the Barclays CEO and 338 years to catch up with the Barclays Africa CEO’s income for a single year. For a bank teller in Tanzania, with a starting wage of around 294 dollars a month, it would take him or her more than 2300 years to earn as much as the Barclays CEO and 690 years to earn as much as the Barclays Africa CEO. The ratio in Uganda is similar. The African economy is full of promise and opportunity but we must link that growth to social sustainability. Decent work, fair pay and the right to unionisation are the way to create sustainable economic growth both for Barclays’ shareholders and its African employees.

The Salz Review: negative and positive In 2012, in the wake of the LIBOR scandal (Barclays’ manipulation of the London inter-bank lending rate), the company commissioned an independent review from City lawyer Anthony Salz. One of his findings was that “there was an over-emphasis on short-term financial performance, reinforced by remuneration systems that tended to reward revenue generation rather than serving the interests of customers and clients.” Another was that Barclays’ top executives 6 http://www.jobs.barclays.co.uk/connect‐with‐us/barclays‐this‐is‐me‐campaign‐for‐mental‐health/  7 Annual Report 2014, p. 81.  8 http://www.barclays.com/news/2015/01/living‐wages.html  

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were paid well above the median for peer banks. In addition, the review accused the bank of having a confrontational relationship to regulators.9 Salz also concluded that the company’s tax avoidance division (SCM, structured capital markets) had generated over £1 billion a year (2007-2010). The findings prompted one lawmaker to accuse “the secretive division of ‘industrial scale tax avoidance.’”10 The then-new CEO, Antony Jenkins, pledged to close the division. But Salz found that 100 bankers were redeployed around the bank instead of being fired. He also described Barclays bankers as “losing ‘a sense of proportion and humility.’”11 At the time of the announcement that Barclays would dismantle the SCM, the company also drew criticism because the company was expected to disclose that it had paid out up to £2 billion in bonuses, and restructuring would probably mean 2,000 job cuts.12 This seems to be a refrain: the company’s paying out bonuses to some at the same time that it makes large-scale job cuts. On the positive side, according to its 2014 Annual Report, Barclays stated it was on a “transformational journey” and planned eventually to implement all 34 recommendations published in April 2013 in the Salz review. It reported on steps it had taken to address certain of the recommendations. For example, to address concerns related to incentives and pay, Barclays reports that in December 2013 it changed its incentive policies for UK retail sales employees to eliminate product-sales incentives.13 One question is whether the company is rolling this out to other parts of its operations, and to what extent product-sales incentives have affected working conditions for Barclays employees in other countries.

1.2 Controversies and challenges

Starting in 2007, there has been a stream of seemingly relentless bad news about Barclays’ practices, from the LIBOR scandal14 to its involvement in gold price fixing15 and subprime mortgages,16 to selling faulty mortgage-backed securities17 and several other controversies. The product- and business ethics-related scandals delivered an enormous hit to the company’s reputation, as captured in recent rating agency profiles. The bank began in 2012 to address these controversies by appointing new management (the CEO and chair resigned in the wake of the LIBOR scandal), commissioning internal and external reviews and undertaking policy changes. But

9 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9968717/Salz‐review‐Pay‐and‐rule‐bending‐to‐blame‐for‐Barclays‐reputational‐woes.html  10 http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/apr/03/barclays‐tax‐avoidance‐salz‐review‐scm  11 http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/apr/03/barclays‐tax‐avoidance‐salz‐review‐scm  12 http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/feb/09/barclays‐closes‐tax‐avoidance‐unit  13 2014 Annual Report, p. 111. 14 See, for example, http://www.bbc.com/news/business‐18671255  15 http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/23/us‐barclays‐regulations‐gold‐idUSBREA4M06620140523  16 http://www.mass.gov/ago/news‐and‐updates/press‐releases/2013/2013‐09‐09‐barclays‐aod.html  17 http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/24/usa‐barclays‐settlement‐idUSL2N0NG27120140424  

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negative scrutiny has continued, for example, in relation to controversial investments and remuneration packages.

Remuneration The company continues to receive negative attention for its remuneration practices. In March 2015, PIRC, a shareholder advisory service in London, published an article noting harsh criticism of Barclays by the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) for allowing the chair of its remuneration committee to stay on despite shareholders’ clear unhappiness with the company’s approach to remuneration. LAPFF was quoted as saying:

Having messed up remuneration for 2013 Sir John [Sunderland] has in fact stayed on as chair and presided over another year of still unacceptably high pay for 2014, and is still in place in March 2015. It’s nothing short of misleading shareholders. Whether it is grossly excessive bonuses, the overinvestment in the substantially underperforming investment bank, support for Bob Diamond, and now £1,250m fines for Forex misconduct, Sir John has been part of every decision that has been disastrous for shareholder returns and the reputation of the bank.

The company claimed it was eventually replacing Sunderland but PIRC said its claims “cannot conceal that yawning gap in governance standards.”18 The bank’s 2014 annual report does not include information on the pay package of Barclays Africa’s CEO, Maria Ramos, in particular. However, research turned up some data elsewhere. As a contextual note, Barclays sees Africa as a key area for growth and wants to be the “bank of choice” there. In terms of contribution to Barclays Group, the adjusted return on equity (RoE) for its Africa operations has risen from 7.2% (2012) to 8.1% (2013) to 9.3% (2014).19 One of the bank’s targets is to double this RoE. It also wants to become “top 3 by revenue” in its five biggest markets in Africa (South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Botswana and Zambia) and to increase revenue share from outside South Africa to 20-25%. To do this, its focus will be to prioritize growth outside South Africa, to grow its Corporate business on the continent, to expand Wealth, Investment Management and Insurance there, and to “develop and invest in diversity and talent.”20 A 2013 article reported that Ramos’s pay in 2013 had fallen 19% to R16.7m (worth $1.58m in December 2013)21 compared to 2012, as she had forfeited her bonus “due to ‘disappointing’ 2012 results.”22 But in April 2014, Moneyweb (a South African financial news source) published a highly critical article entitled “R29m for Destroying Shareholder Value”, noting that Barclays Africa Group’s 2013 integrated report showed a pay package of R28.7 million for Ramos. Moneyweb 18 PIRC Alerts, 10 March 2015 19 Barclays Annual Report 2014. 20 Annual Report 2014, p. 21‐2.  21 Using Oanda historical currency rates: http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical‐rates/  22 http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Financial‐Services/Ramos‐pay‐packet‐drops‐to‐R17m‐20130402  

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questioned whether this was “an appropriate package for a CEO who heads up the laggard of the big four, has serially under-delivered on minority shareholder returns while favouring the parent company, and comes under fire from analysts for being distracted by other responsibilities and unrelated directorships?”23 The article went on to assert that Barclays Africa Group (BAG) had lost staff, clients had left “in their droves” in 2013 and that a poor compound annual growth rate for the previous five years had “coincide[d] with roughly the same period Ramos has been CEO.” It also noted that, as Absa’s share price had fallen, speculation of a takeover had risen. Other pay packages at Absa in 2013 included:

• David Hodnett, deputy CEO and finance director: R21-million • Craig Bond, head of retail and business banking, R27-million • Stephen van Coller, corporate and investment banking, R25-million • BAG senior managers received R5m each on average that year24

MSN Money reported in October 2014 on bank CEO pay packages at other large banks in South Africa. It appears Ramos’s pay package in 2013 (R28.7m) was similar to what several of her peers earned. The chair of StandardBank was quoted as saying that “the African growth story is more important than any ‘argument about remuneration’”, and that “market pressures” were pushing top executive pay toward “developed market norms”. MSN Money pointed out, however, that “this stage is set in one of the world’s most unequal societies.”25

Employee Stress in France

In September 2014 the consulting firm Technologia published a report on Barclays RBB France (one of the largest foreign banks in the country). The study found that, on all “axis” of psychosocial risks (RPS) except “emotional demands”, Barclays RBB presented a very high risk in comparison with its sector and often above the maximums (for all sectors) published by Dares, the statistics bureau of the Ministry of Labor. These axes include socioeconomic insecurity, harassment, work relations, autonomy, and conflicts of value and work demands. The study also noted that the company provides weak support, there were frequent instances of harassment, many employees are subject to burnout and the “psychosocial risks are real, multiple, affect a significant proportion of employees and are increasing”.26 37.7% of respondents are exposed or highly exposed to professional burnout. Ratings were more negative for workplaces outside Paris, and these have worsened more in 2008-2014 than at the Paris headquarters (p. 48). For the period 2011-14, a notable number of respondents said working conditions had 23 http://www.moneyweb.co.za/archive/r29million‐for‐destroying‐shareholder‐value/ (emphasis added).  24 http://www.moneyweb.co.za/archive/r29million‐for‐destroying‐shareholder‐value/ Other information about pay packages at Absa is here: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=AGRPY  25 http://www.msn.com/en‐za/money/news/which‐banking‐chief‐earns‐the‐most/ar‐BB99XTI  26 Bouhot et al, Barclays RBB France: Rapport Expertise RPS CHSCT, September 2014, Technologia 

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deteriorated. Reasons given included: future insecurity; a sense that management is not listening; poor communications; inhumane management; commercial pressure and dysfunctional IT. There has also been an erosion of pride in working for Barclays across all units except Legal/HR/Communication/Management. The study, based on a survey (600 responses, 1,081 sent out) and interviews (64 employees)27, also asserted that the September 2014 announcement by London that it would sell Barclays retail banking in Spain and no longer invest in the network in France added to the context of anxiety of previous successive reorganizations. Management had apparently disregarded another outside firm’s earlier report and recommendations on the impacts of a proposed PSE and the “urgency of the risks” associated with it (including psychosocial). Compared to labor ministry statistics, Barclays employees in France complained more of excessive work demands, lack of autonomy, lack of manager support and lack of recognition of their work. On the positive side, Barclays France workers point to many fewer “ethical conflicts” than is the average in Finance/Insurance, “without doubt explained by the absence of ‘forced sales’ practices so common in retail banking.” (p. 43) But the survey turns up important evidence of “prevented work” – employees complain they cannot do quality work, and many respondents fear losing their jobs. CFDT told UNI in March 2015 that the most notable thing is the absence of social dialogue, and that the management is “closed” to all manner of discussion. Further, Barclays France has attempted twice (2013 and 2014) to present a restructuring plan. Both times, the CFDT brought the company to court over the plans (in the second case, the union contested the figures on likely job losses, for example, and argued that the company was lying about these). And in both cases, a court ruled against the company and struck the reorganization plan down. In January 2015, the company told the CFDT that it would not contest the court’s decision, but in February, it told the union it was going ahead with the reorganization anyway. According to CFDT, the company plans to create call centers that would pull staff away from current branches, leaving remaining employees to carry out multiple jobs. Employees who refuse to move to the call centers will be made redundant. CFDT’s account highlights the stress and uncertainty to which Barclays France RBB workers are currently subjected, as recounted in the Technologia report. It also demonstrates the company’s apparent disregard for two court decisions. The findings of the French report and CFDT’s account could be contrasted with Barclay’s statement in its Annual Report 2014: “we aim to provide a working environment supporting productivity and performance, and promoting individual physical and emotional well-being”.28 27 The authors note some reasons given for lack of response: workload, fear of non‐confidentiality and general discouragement (p. 15).  28http://www.barclays.com/content/dam/barclayspublic/docs/InvestorRelations/AnnualReports/AR2014/Barclays_PLC_Annual_Report_%202014.pdf  p.13 

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General weakness on human rights

BankTrack, in a December 2014 report, Banking with Principles, assessed 32 banks against the UN Guiding Principles. Coming in around the middle of the pack, Barclays scored 4 points out of a possible 12 (the highest score earned by any company was 8). BankTrack calls Barclays out for poor reporting on human rights (score: 0 out of a possible 3) and access to remedy (score: 0.5 out of a possible 2). It also criticizes the bank for its involvement in financing projects associated with human rights violations (e.g. Kaltim Prima coal mine in Indonesia). It judged Barclays’ human rights policy commitment to be “merely aspirational”.29

2 Survey about working conditions and social dialogue in Europe and Africa

UNI Finance distributed a survey to its affiliates asking about the number of employees in the country, the number of job cuts in recent years, the level of stress, minimum wage for a bank teller and quality of social dialogue. The results of the survey do not pretend to present a comprehensive study but rather a snapshot of workers’ rights reality in Europe and Africa. We present here the key findings from each country.

2.1. Europe In the UK, Barclays counts around 65,000 workers, which makes it the largest operation worldwide. It is estimated that between 18,000 and 24,000 jobs have been cut since the beginning of the financial crisis, including between 5,000 and 7,000 last year. However the impacts of the heavy job losses have been mitigated through the departure of volunteers with a good redundancy package. 57% of the workers reported that they were suffering from work-related stress, which is above the global average for Barclays (50%). The minimum salary in Barclays UK is £ 14,300. The quality of social dialogue is good: the union has a partnership relationship with the company which serves the union and its members both internally and externally and has negotiated good policy improvements lately, including the doubling of maternity leave and pay increases for over 7,000 cashiers regardless of their salary. In Italy, there are around 1,000 employees. The workforce was 1,600 in 2008. The restructuring plans from respectively 2011 and 2013 resulted in 170 and 270 job cuts. There is no specific figure about the level of stress but it is assumed that it is quite high due to the uncertainty about jobs in the future. Barclays announced that the company would exit the retail banking market in Italy by 2016. In 2015, the Italian union has secured an agreement to freeze job cuts at least for this year. The minimum gross salary for a cashier is around 24,050 euros a year (tax is around 24%). According to the unions, the social dialogue is frank and open. The new national agreement for the finance sector will now apply to Barclays as well as other banks present in the country.   29http://www.banktrack.org/download/bankingwithprinciples_humanrights_dec2014_pdf/hr_banking_with_principles_digital.pdf   

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In France, there were 1823 employees in 2011 and 1411 employees at the end of 2014 which represents 415 job lost either through job cuts or voluntary departures. There were 99 job cuts in 2013 and 130 job cuts in 2014 or 229 job cuts for these two years. Since the new management was put in place, the number of dismissals for professional mistakes has been multiplied by 10. The percentage of workers reporting a high level of stress is estimated around 50 to 75%. The Technologia research group commissioned an expert report (as mentioned above) which laid out that 25 to 30% of the workers were close to burn out. The professional doctor from Paris also issued a statement warning about the psychological risks and health risks for the workers of the company. As many colleagues are on sick leave, the ones who are still at work need to deal with a heavy work load, also due to the fact that the people who have lost their jobs have not been replaced. The minimum salary is around 23,000 euros per year before tax. There is no social dialogue and no meetings between the union representatives and management. The company lost several court cases regarding its restructuring plans. In Portugal, Barclays counted 2,577 employees in 2010. This number fell down to1,220 in February 2015 which means a significant job loss of 1,357. Barclays is planning to sell the unit in 2016 but for this year no further job cuts are being planned. The minimum salary is around 737 euros per month. The union is trying to build a constructive dialogue at national and EU level through the EWC to prepare better conditions for the next restructuring process. In Spain, there are around 221 employees. The percentage of workers that is suffering from work-related stress is estimated to be 50 to 75%, and this is mainly due to the restructuring process as the employees are expecting more job cuts. At the moment, the major concern from the unions is the fact that local management may not respect the existing agreements with the unions, including regarding overtime.

2.2. Africa In Ghana, there are 1,175 employees and 1,006 union members. Barclays is considered by the union as a very cooperative social partner. Unlike in the past when the company could take decisions without consulting the union, management is now asking the union to review any decision that may have an impact on workers. The bank also recognizes the legal right of the union to represent the employees. Collective bargaining remains the main avenue for negotiating working conditions for the employees (for example in the last negotiations, the union obtained three days of paternity leave which is more than in other banks). In Tanzania, there are around 500 employees. Around 50 to 70% reported that they were suffering from work-related stress. Since 2013, ten branches have been closed. Around 50 employees (or ten percent of the workforce) are on short-term contracts limited to 2 to 3 months. The starting salary for a bank teller is around 298 dollars a month. The quality of social dialogue is very poor. The employees are not satisfied with their working conditions due to high level of stress and fear of victimization if they voice their concerns. There is a high turnover with employees willing to work for another bank.

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“The biggest challenges I am facing in my country are low salaries, high levels of stress, lack of recognition and lack of decision-making power for the workers. I am uniting with my co-workers to form a union as I am hoping that this will help us to negotiate better salaries and working conditions and ensure greater job security.” Baila Shabady- Barclays Tanzania “In my current situation, I don’t earn enough to meet the needs from my family, in terms of access to education and medical treatments. But hopefully together we can make a change, improve our well-being at work and as a result for our families.” Julius Magai- Barclays Tanzania In Zimbabwe, there are 482 employees and most of them are union members (403). Around 400 jobs were cut since 2008 mainly through the retrenchments which were carried out in 2010 and 2011. The employees that left were not replaced which created a lot of stress due to heavy workloads. The level of stress is being estimated at around 40% based on absenteeism due to stress related illnesses. The starting wage for a bank teller is around 630 dollars a month. Salaries for ordinary workers are too low for them to sustain a basic lifestyle as the cost of living in the country is relatively high. Access to loans is also limited and the poor performance management system doesn’t allow for significant salary increases in comparison to the income from senior management. The quality of social dialogue is moderate due to the fact that the local management cannot take many decisions without the approval from Barclays Africa or Barclays PLC. Moreover the management usually shows hostility to dealing with the local union Zibawu. “We are building a Global Alliance of Barclays workers because we want better working conditions, better salaries and better staff loans.” Tawanda Mutemi (Barclays Zimbabwe) In Botswana, there are 1,500 employees including 777 union members as of February 2015. It is estimated that more than 75% of the workers suffer from work-related stress, especially in the commercial branches due to sales pressure in an already saturated market. Around 150 jobs have been cut since the beginning of the financial crisis. In 2011, 25 people were retrenched including 17 people who were dismissed under the pretext of poor performance. Others were dismissed through various disciplinary processes which has become a concern as this is becoming the mainstream mechanism to cut jobs rather than the normal retrenchment process. In 2014, 14 people were dismissed. With the issue of liquidity access in the country, the employees are expecting more job cuts this year. There are 300 workers on short-term contracts who may not have their contract renewed. The union is asking the company to have the contractors under the collective agreement. The salary for a bank teller is around 520 US dollars a month, compared to around 15,000 dollars for the operations director. The car allowance for senior managers is more than a team leader's entry point salary. The car and housing allowances combined is double a supervisor 's salary yet a supervisor is considered to be better paid than a new joiner. The union is still facing some unilateral implementations of policies which affect working conditions, despite the fact that there is a collective agreement which stipulates that management should discuss these issues with the union first.

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“We all work for the same company and the Barclays Alliance allows us to share information about best practices, speak with one voice and improve working conditions and workers rights. In my country, we are also working for the inclusion of contract workers into the collective agreement.” Lebogang Keabetswe – Barclays Botswana

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Conclusions: We present here some of the key findings and questions to the company:

• Contrast between CSR commitments and practices: Barclays is sometimes seen as a “first mover” and leader on corporate social responsibility and ESG; Barclays has been a member of the UNEP Finance initiative for a long time, was involved early on in the Equator Principles and is a founding member of the Thun Group. However, the number and severity of scandals involving the company’s conduct and its products have led to company efforts to address reputational damage, and Barclays admits that it “continues to face conduct and litigation risk”.30 . Why does Barclays continue to perform unevenly in areas such as workers’ rights, fair pay, responsible and sustainable investing, responsible products and transparency?

• Contrast between countries and selectivity of responsible behaviour: the survey conducted by UNI shows some differences between some countries like the UK or Ghana where social dialogue is very positive and other countries where the lack of social dialogue has some impacts on working conditions. Is there a disconnect between a strong approach to workers’ rights and well-being in the UK (eg commitments to a living wage and employee mental health) and operations elsewhere? Barclays announced plans to roll its mental health campaign website out beyond the UK, but it remains unclear what its commitment in this area comprises in other countries. Will it be applied in France?

• Inconsistency on pay: there are still come concerns regarding high executive

bonuses and executive pay in Europe and Africa. How does Barclays’ Living Wage commitment fit with the low wages paid to its workers in Africa, and why should only Barclays’ UK workers be given the chance for a living wage? The fact that the company is growing its investments and workforce in Africa should be an opportunity to roll out the Living Wage commitment to Africa.

Many thanks to all the UNI Finance affiliates who responded to the survey. Corporate Research: Liz Umlas Coordinator: Elise Buckle (UNI Finance Global Policy Coordinator) Editing: Mike Sunderland (UNI Deputy Director of Communications) Layout: Luana Albarellos 30 See Annual Report 2014, p. 15 and 23, for example.  

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