Around 30 staff were told last week that they would be made redundant, impacting services at the bank’s branch network, triggering the strike by a larger number of employees.
However, the bank said that following discussions with union representatives, it was agreed an immediate pay increase would be implemented for all staff except very senior management — covering 98 percent of HSBC’s 340 employees in the country — and that the 30 redundancies would be made on a voluntary basis.
Haider Rashid, the head of the union of bank employees, added a cost of living allowance tied to official inflation figures was also granted.
The redundancies in Jordan are part of the 30,000 job cuts which the bank announced in August would take place up to the end of 2013, aimed at cutting costs.
As part of that, a reorganization of HSBC’s Middle East retail banking will impact around 200 employees in Jordan and five other countries: Bahrain, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and the UAE.
While an HSBC spokesperson wouldn’t comment on whether the action in Jordan would influence employees in other countries, he said that it hoped compulsory redundancies would be kept to a minimum.
“This move in retail banking is entirely about efficiency of operations and strategy,” the spokesperson said.
“HSBC’s commitment to the Middle East is as strong as ever.”
Under the changes, the spokesperson added, the UAE will become a regional hub and operations in the other countries would be reduced. For example, it plans to halve its branch network in Lebanon to three outlets.
