STOCK MARKET WATCH - Tuesday, 28 February 2012

[xchrom]

33. Threatened Goldman Japan workers unionize

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120228zg.html

The past year has been anything but business as usual for the financial industry. Faced with a frosty economic climate, financial service companies have been busy chopping dead wood. Last year, 200,000 financial service jobs ended up on the cutting block worldwide.

In Japan, that meant layoffs at famous firms including Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, Mizuho Financial Group, and the not-so-famous, such as Spanish bank Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.

At Goldman Sachs Japan, things became so unusual that some of its staff even took the remarkable step of unionizing after the firm's attempts to force workers to voluntarily resign — and thus sidestep the notoriously tough restrictions on layoffs under Japanese labor law — apparently backfired. Instead of quitting, the company's actions spurred some employees to heed the call for workers of the world to unite, and they formed what's believed to be Goldman Sachs' first-ever employee union.

Goldman, known for its close connections to governments and the most powerful corporations, has been cutting jobs worldwide. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the financial giant eliminated 2,400 jobs in 2011 in response to a 26-percent drop in revenue. Goldman Sachs Japan representatives declined to divulge how many of its 1,300 employees have received pink slips.