Union objects to Colombian central bank’s branch closures

The union that represents workers at the Colombian central bank has condemned its plans to repurpose some of its regional branch offices. The union, Anebre, claimed the central bank was engaging in a “labour massacre” that would cost nearly 100 jobs.

The Bank of the Republic announced on February 1 that six regional branches would become “cultural agencies” from March. These branches will cease offering treasury services and cash distribution. The central bank says it has offered a redundancy package to affected employees who have not reached retirement age.

The central bank has been closing regional cash distribution centres since the late 1990s. The Bank of the Republic indicated that the growing use of third parties to distribute cash made many of its own regional treasuries obsolete.

The new cultural centres will have libraries and exhibition spaces, and two will house museums – a gold museum at Pasto, and an ethnographic museum at Leticia.

In its press release, Anebre condemned the governor, Leonardo Villar, and the central bank’s board of directors, which it said was controlled by the governing party. The union also criticised Hanskel Verónica Rocha Corredor, the central bank’s head of HR, for “pushing the immoral project of the internal privatisation” of the central bank.

Due to a series of resignations, the incumbent president, Iván Duque, has appointed all five permanent directors, though the central-bank law was designed to stagger these appointments. The incumbent finance minister sits ex officio, and the governor is chosen by the board.