Monday, April 08, 2013

Boycott the Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada Chief Human Resources Officer Zabeen Hirji explains here that technically it's not RBC that has hired temporary foreign workers to replace RBC employees. No, rather it's that RBC has hired Indian offshore outsourcing company iGATE to do their own hiring as part of RBC's plan to transition RBC IT jobs overseas to India. 

What about government reaction that this is unacceptable?
Oh, says Hirji, we were already in conversation with relevant government departments last week and besides everybody is outsourcing overseas now.


At left we see iGATE receiving RBC's Outsourcing Excellence Award back in 2008 when RBC only had 500 iGATE employees working for them. 

A few months later, RBC itself received a $25 billion dollar government bailout, or 'backstop' as we prefer to call taxpayer bailouts of corps in Canada, amounting to 63% of the bank's total value. RBC CEO Gordon Nixon took home $10M+ in salary and compensation that same year.

At the time, RBC VP and head of Application Services Marjorie Mong explained :
"The key message to [RBC IT staff] was that offshoring was not about job cuts. It was about augmenting our workforce in a flexible way."
While Canadians were surprised and outraged over the weekend at news of RBC's parasitic behavior, Rochester Institute of Technology public policy professor Ron Hira has spent the last decade studying how "offshore-outsourcing consulting firms" work in the States. 

"What these firms have done is exploit the loopholes in the H-1B [foreign temporary tech workers] program to bring in on-site workers to learn the jobs [of] the Americans to then ship it back offshore."

As RBC's Hirji explained above, it was necessary to bring the offshore workers on-site to RBC in order to learn RBC procedures first hand.
The two companies have been working closely since 2005. There is an "RBC Offshore Development Centre" in the iGATE facility in Bangalore. 
RBC spokesperson Rina Cortese told Go Public several foreign workers from iGATE will be working in the bank’s Toronto offices until 2015. By then, she said, most of the work will be transferred abroad, but a few of the foreigners will remain indefinitely.
[RBC] workers said they were not offered jobs with iGATE and were told this "realignment" might expand to affect more of the bank’s 57,500 employees in Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister and presumed PM-in-waiting Jason Kenney managed to express surprise that the temporary foreign worker program under his purview he has long touted as absolutely vital to Canadian interests would be so abused.

Boycott Royal Bank of Canada as first suggested by blogger Norm Farrell.   Do it.
Yes, that means your Visa card too. Outsource your money to a credit union in your own community instead.

Has anyone called this iGATE-gate yet? Allow me to be the first.

Boycott the Royal Bank - Part 2           Boycott the Royal Bank - Part 3

Boycott the Royal Bank ... and Amanda Lang


Anonymous said...

RBC is outsourcing their outsourcing of jobs.
So not their fault then.

Anonymous said...

RBC - weasel words. Flaherty - weasel words. This is right out of the Dictators Handbook - you only have to keep your biggest corps happy to stay in power.

Anonymous said...

bottom line... someone is going to make a huge bonus

West End Bob said...

Marjorie Mong explained :


Talk about your 'f'n' Corporate Doublespeak!

jason 'f'n' kenney as presumed PM-in-waiting is a chilling thought, isn't it? The NDP needs to get their collective sh_t together to avert that disaster . . . .

Anonymous said...

Move RBC to INDIA!I'm closing my ACC in this bank.Period!

Anonymous said...

Now I understand !!!, I had applied to IT positions at RBC and they tell me I do not have the necessary skills,I have an education from top American Universities and excellent experience and it is not good for them. It is an abuse on the Canadian Citizens, RBC just wants cheap labor. I suggest a yearly tax of about $50K on each foreign person hired on those offshore centers by Canadian companies.

LeDaro said...

It is sad but all banks are doing it. Their sole goal is profiteering.

"CIBC turns over IT to HP in $2 billion outsourcing deal.."

Anonymous said...

Harper's charities are the corporations. They all lined up at the trough and, squealed for more money. Harper gave them, ANOTHER $60 billion in tax reductions.

Harper's Omnibull-S-Bill gives Red China the right to sue any Canadians, blocking China's takeover. China sued in BC to take the mining jobs. 300 BC miners applied for the 200 mine jobs, Harper gave to Red China. Chinese resource worker's earn, $800 per month.

Harper charities, big business want the $800 per month Chinese. They need billions more to stuff into their, tax free off shore accounts.

Same as RBC. They are the same parasites, as all corporations are. They too want to exploit cheap foreign labor.

Well, if China sues Canada for blocking their takeover? Good, I hope they sue the @$$ off Harper's evil Canada.

I have e-mailed everyone I know, to get their money out of the RBC, told them to pass the message along. RBC is not to be trusted. I pulled my accounts from my own bank, and switched to a small Credit Union. Banks are also one of Harper's charities. He steals from us, to give to them.

How can anyone with, self respect, decency, with ethics and morals, support a monster such as Harper?

Harper is a Traitor to Canada, doing acts of Treason. Imagine giving Canada to a Communist country, the entire world dislikes and, giving Canadian jobs to that same country?

Even another Communist country, wouldn't be stupid enough to, give themselves to Communist China. That takes a Traitor such as Harper to do that.

Anonymous said...


Don't close your RBC account, always send someone else to close it for you!

Why boycott RBC when you can outsource the boycotting to someone else and then claim it wasn't you?

Be assured I will never open an RBC account.

Anonymous said...

Stop using RBC ATMs. Walk a little farther. Think about our Canadian brothers and sisters that can't feed their children. IGATE's HQ is in a country that turns a blind eye to RAPE. Is this the kind of bank you want to do buiz with.

Alison said...

LeDaro : It's sad but all the banks are doing it.

Yes, hence advice to join a credit union in your nabe instead - where at least you'll get a vote on what happens there.

CBC reporter Kathy Tomlinson who broke this story was on CBC radio's BC Early Edition this morning :
"I am getting emails - several every minute - and many of them from bank employees not just with RBC. They are saying this is industry-wide - Bank of Montral, CIBC, TD - we're hearing from all across the board. ... I'm getting emails from people who are management, that are high in this and who know how it works."

Holly Stick said...

I moved mostly from RBC to a credit union years ago because they cut so many tellers they had huge lineups, and then they kept closing branches and moving my account to a different one.

I still have a couple of old accounts there, but with so little money in them, if I close them the money will probably all be used for service charges or something.

deBeauxOs said...

Excellent blogpost Alison!

Anonymous said...

The "create a crisis" conservatives hard at work again. Their corporate tax cuts lower revenue so they have to cut services. They tell the CRA to hunt down tax evaders but cut their ability to do so. Even an idiot can see who they represent. We the sheeple are not part of this process unless votes are on the line. I long for the return of democracy.

Anonymous said...

I'm RBC employee retained after outsourcing but kept bullied by the managers on a daily basis. Perhaps they will stop if I quietly work voluntarily from 9 till 7 or 8 to finish 2 people's workloads. It's a real nightmare. Non-stop rushing all day long. Still a number of years to early retirement I'm always thinking if I will survive till then. RBC has a Smart Sourcing Department of consultants to seek every outsourcing opportunity in any possible department. There's no way to stop.

Purple library guy said...

Go to a credit union and don't look back.
I haven't understood for years why anyone would bank with a bank when they can use a credit union instead. The service is generally better, the fees generally lower, and they aren't a vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity. Really, it doesn't take much to be less bad than a bank.

I dunno about elsewhere, but here in Vancouver if you add up all the VanCity ATMs with all the other credit union ATMs, I'm pretty sure I've got more places I can withdraw without a fee than if my account was with a bank (do banks even let you withdraw without paying?).

Alison said...

RBC employee : I can't imagine the stress.
Some of your co-workers spoke out about it today here and you might find some support with them here.

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