We were given a supper allowance of $5. I received no benefits, as I was classified as part-time. After several years of attempting to be reclassified as full-time, I finally went to the federal labour board, who contacted my manager, and I was subsequently made full-time. I was never quite sure if it was worth it, as I was labelled a troublemaker from that point on.
It is often standard practice at all banks for the staff to “volunteer” to make RSP calls during the months of January and February. Anyone who didn't offer to stay after hours to make these calls faced having a note put in their personnel file stating that they were not a team player. Payment for making these calls three times a week until 8 p.m. was a slice of pizza, eaten at your desk, and a can of pop.
I remained working at the same branch for 20 years. At that time we were totally convinced that we owed the bank for giving us employment, and we were unlikely to ever get jobs anywhere else. I suppose it was almost a case of Stockholm Syndrome, in which you become convinced that your very existence relies on the people who control you.
I eventually transferred to the Ontario central accounting unit in downtown Hamilton to escape an abusive supervisor, and things began to improve. For one thing, there were no sales goals.
Sales goals were an insidious thing for all branch employees. The number of cross-sells, upsells, and referrals for large credit products that were required in order to get an acceptable rating on your annual performance report was staggering. It simply wasn't attainable in the course of normal working hours; hence, more unpaid overtime, but that's another story.
I congratulate the women who came forward from both the CIBC and Scotiabank and successfully pursued class action lawsuits that at least resulted in some of their colleagues getting the lost wages that they deserved. Sadly, hundreds of employees were not in those numbers of the defined class, and they were left behind and will likely never be compensated for all the hours they worked.
The pressure to achieve sales goals did more than coerce staff into working for nothing. It also urged them to sell products to customers that they had no need for. Raising credit card limits, urging people to take out car loans, RSP loans, open a line of credit, or be approved for overdraft protection were commonplace. The one that disturbed me the most was approving people for much larger mortgages than they could afford—anything to raise the profit of the bank, whether the consumer could afford the product or not.
I can clearly remember the day when my husband and I went to get a pre-approved mortgage from the bank so that we could go house hunting. I was appalled at the amount they were willing to lend us, even though we had understated my husband's income. I saw the big smile on his face. When we got outside, I gave him the bad news that we could actually only handle a mortgage half that size and that he would have to lower his expectations. I also told him that there were going to be a lot of rough times ahead for a lot of people who were overburdening themselves with huge mortgages they might not be able to handle. That was in 1999.
Thank you.