Accord and Unite are fighting each other rather than holding Lloyds to account.
In a message to its members, which presumably didn’t take long to send given it’s got so few, Unite accused Accord of providing all its membership data to Lloyds Banking Group in exchange for it being allowed to send a recruitment leaflet to all grade A-C staff.
Unite said:
“Accord is being given a lot of help by LBG to help them recruit non-union members at grades A-C. This includes significant investment through the services of a third-party company”.
What is the name of the company and how much is Lloyds paying it to help Accord? We’ve seen Accord’s latest membership mailshot, which was sent to all staff via Workday a few weeks ago. If that’s the best this company can produce, then Lloyds needs to get its money back. Accord is a toxic brand that nobody in Lloyds wants to be associated with because it’s in the Bank’s pocket. Who is going to join a trade union that the employer supports financially? Unite are only jealous because they aren’t getting the same level of support.
More worryingly, Unite has accused Accord of providing Lloyds with the personal details of all its member.
Unite said:
“Unite has not been granted the same opportunity to communicate with all LBG workers at grades A-C. The Bank is arguing that is……a direct consequence of Accord’s decision to share details of their members with LBG. This is a practice Unite firmly opposed on grounds of data protection and protecting members identities.”.
If Unite’s accusation is true, then Accord and Lloyds Banking Group have committed a serious breach of the data protection legislation. Why would any trade union give its membership details to the employer? Did Accord members agree to their personal data being shared with Lloyds? What does Lloyds intend to do with that information? We know Accord’s losing thousands of members because of its close working relationship with Lloyds, but sharing sensitive is a step too far.
Article 9 of the UK GDPR gives special protection for certain types of personal data which are particularly sensitive. There are known as “special category data.”.
Special category data includes information about an individual’s:
Race
Ethnic origin
Religious or philosophical beliefs
Trade union membership
Genetics
Biometrics
Health
Sex life, or
Sexual orientation
It simply beggars belief that Accord would share trade union membership data with Lloyds.
Given that many of our own members received the Accord mailshot, we are consulting our lawyers on a referral to the Office of the Information Commissioner.
Members with any questions should contact the Union’s Advice Team on 01234 262868 (Option 1)
MEMBERS SHOULD PASS THIS NEWSLETTER TO THEIR COLLEAGUES SO THEY TOO CAN BENEFIT FROM THE ONLY INDEPENDENT TRADE UNION IN LLOYDS