The management of RBTT Bank Jamaica Limited has agreed to discuss with the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) future changes in the bank’s operational structure.

This followed a meeting between the bank and the union Wednesday after last weekend’s letter from BITU president Kavan Gayle to the bank’s Human Resources Department head, Larraine Harrison, objecting to the manner in which the changes were being carried out.

In his letter, Gayle said that there were no discussions with the union or the workers, prior to commencing implementation, staff were not prepared for the changes, and that some of the changes may adversely affect the relationship between workers and customers.

The operational changes were revealed to the workers in a communiqué on October 2. One of the major changes causing concern is the need for local managers to report directly to bosses in Port of Spain instead of senior management in Jamaica.

The union claims that this has led to a number of resignations among senior managers. But the bank says it was not aware of that being the reason.

“The changes so far have only affected senior managers. We have agreed that as they affect managers down, which we represent, they will be discussed with us prior to implementation,” Gayle said.

Royal Bank of Canada and RBTT merged in June this year. The banks agreed then that senior management from both organisations would be integrated and the new RBC Caribbean would have corporate headquarters in Port of Spain.

The merger deal gave the new entity 130 branches across the region, assets of US$13.7 billion and 1.6 million clients, placing it ahead of the CIBC-owned FirstCaribbean, but still behind Scotiabank.