Filenews 29 May 2022 - by TheanoThiopoulou
The 2,617 employees of Hellenic Bank are anxiously viewing the day after the management negotiation with ETYK, as the mediation efforts of Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos, who serves as Minister of Labour, to lift a months-long labour crisis at Hellenic Bank, are expected to begin in substance. The first acquaintance meeting with the chief executive of the Hellenic Oliver Gatzke last Friday and with the leadership of ETYK this week, will give the starting signal for the next stage. To pass the negotiation in the deep and difficult for the signing of the new collective agreement, where the details are hidden: what will happen with the salary increases, whether the position of the employer side will pass on the abolition of contributions to the welfare and health funds, whether the ETYK will accept this practice and what will be the amount of the gratuitous compensation for a plan for the voluntary exit of staff. The two sides, employers' and trade unions, have red lines on the framework of the new contract and the gap between them will have to be bridged in order to close the negotiation as smoothly and quickly as possible.
The first step of goodwill was taken with the suspension of the 24-hour strike on the part of the guild and the suspension of the intention to lay off staff through the process of redundancies on the employer side. But that's the formal and not the essential part. Mr. Gatzke, under pressure from shareholders, is urgently putting on the table the reduction of labour costs, both through the departure of employees and through the framework for changing the collective agreement as regards the obligation to pay horizontal increases and abolish the contribution to the health fund of bank employees, due to the fact that the bank already pays contributions to the GHS.
The chief executive officer has stressed to the staff that "what we are seeking and to which we are really committed is the signing of a new collective agreement that will reflect the necessary cost reduction, the gradual implementation of performance-based remuneration, in line with international best practices, and the harmonisation of the salaries of colleagues from former CCB/MFA. The result of this cost management exercise will lead to savings and will positively affect the provisions of the restructuring plan in terms of staff and financial compensation to those who will leave the bank." In fact, he has mentioned in the past that the bank cannot offer as compensation the maximum amount of €200,000 or €150,000, if the bank proceeds to a staff reduction of 1,000 people. He even wondered where the bank would find so much money to compensate.
The ETYK, under the weight of the almost unanimous mandate of 6,000 bank employees, will have to fight its own fight. The non-granting of gratuitous compensation of €200,000, as has been done with all banks so far, is a red rag and at least for the time being it is something that is not being negotiated. The trade union side, under the weight of the voluntary exit plans that will be run by other banks, as recently announced by the Bank of Cyprus, does not want to set a bad precedent. On the other hand, the content of the Hellenic collective agreement will guide other banks, which face the same challenges and do not want to be disadvantaged in relation to competition, in terms of personnel costs. At the end of December 2022, the Bank of Cyprus contract expires and ETYK would not want to whet the appetite of other banks for changes to the contracts. Also, for the guild there is no mention of the abolition of the health fund of bank employees, nor of other acquired rights, an issue raised by The Hellenic.
