UNI Americas denounces anti-union practices by Banco Santander across Latin America

UNI Americas expresses its full support for trade unions across the region who are facing a growing offensive against workers’ rights and anti-union behaviour from Banco Santander. From Argentina to Peru, including Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, finance sector workers report layoffs, job insecurity, abusive outsourcing and a systematic policy of harassment and union persecution.

In Argentina, the Asociación Bancaria has declared a nationwide state of alert and mobilisation, denouncing a deliberate strategy of staff reduction and violations of collective agreement 18/75. The union accuses the bank of carrying out disguised layoffs, pressuring workers to resign, and repressing protests through the use of police and notaries who identify workers participating in demonstrations.

“Banco Santander’s attack on labour rights knows no borders”, expressed Sergio Palazzo, General Secretary of La Bancaria and UNI Americas Finance vice president. “What we are witnessing in several countries is part of the same business logic that disregards social dialogue and undermines the dignity of those who work. Our response must also be regional and united.”

In Brazil, unions face an increase in outsourcing, particularly in the technology sector, resulting in layoffs and informality. In São Paulo, a peaceful union action was violently repressed by police—a clear sign of the bank’s increasingly authoritarian response to worker organisation.

“Banco Santander cannot present itself as a responsible company while laying off, outsourcing, precarising and persecuting the very people who keep its operations running,” said Juvandia Moreira, President of UNI Americas Finance and CONTRAF-CUT. “We cannot allow the private banking model to keep advancing at the expense of workers’ rights. Defending employment and labour dignity is not negotiable.”

In Peru, Santander’s anti-union practices include ignoring court rulings that guarantee union communication with its members. Unions report systematic discrimination against affiliated workers through higher sales targets, reduced access to performance bonuses, and irregular notifications of resignations from the union—interfering in the internal life of the organisation.

In Chile, unions report arbitrary dismissals, work pressure, outsourcing and a hostile stance toward union organising. In Uruguay, the bank has adopted an anti-labour position with the workers of Crédito de la Casa and Creditel, refusing to negotiate decent wages and trying to impose cuts to existing rights.

“We can no longer tolerate Santander’s behaviour in Latin America. Our unions are facing conflict in every country where the bank operates,” said Guillermo Maffeo, Regional Director of UNI Americas Finance. “We have called an emergency meeting of the Santander Global Union Network to be held at the headquarters of La Bancaria in Buenos Aires to define a plan of action and protest,” he added.

UNI Americas urges Banco Santander to immediately end its practices of adjustment, precarisation and persecution, and to return to genuine social dialogue with workers’ representatives in every country where it operates. We also call on national authorities to defend labour rights and protect those who sustain the financial system every day.

Policía en la protesta en Santander, en la ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.