A Paradox in Bank Windows

A BBVA bank window with union signs denouncing the bank.

'Labor massacre in BBVA: Now, who's next?' Take that,
you bad bank!

Colombian unions frequently complain about having weak legal protections, evidenced by low union membership rates.

But bank employee unions have at least one extraordinary privilege, whose origin I'd love to know: They can lambast and denounce their employers in the banks' own windows - and even inside the banks.

As a person who respects rank and file works and has a suspicious view of corporations, these signs have made me feel uncomfortable while banking. So, the union accomplished something. But how accurate are they? The bank employees don't appear particularly unhappy.

In a way, this surprising situation makes sense. Perhaps a judge or government bureaucrat reasoned that if the banks can advertise themselves in their windows, then why give the unions equal space there?

'I am a director who is tyrranical, anti-union, oppressive and violator of workers' rights.'

May Day, with a list of criticisms of banks, publicized in an AV Villas bank window.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours