Hellenic Bank staff to go on strike next week

[memory man]

Staff at Hellenic Bank on Tuesday announced they will go on a 24-hour warning strike next week, warning the measures will be intensified if the bank’s management fails to “comply with the law”.

The strike, on May 31, was decided during a board meeting of the ban employees union Etyk at which 99.5 per cent, or 5,714 members of all banks, voted in favour of the work stoppage.

In a written statement, the union said the reasons behind the measure were “violations of the agreements and laws by the Hellenic bank management”.

The strike will act as a warning, they added, while in case the Hellenic Bank Management does not comply and abide by the agreements and the law, such as the decisions of the labour minister, then the measures will be intensified and extended.

The board of the union has already authorised the general secretariat, if it deems necessary, to extend the measures to the other banks, it added.

Hellenic – the island’s second-largest commercial lender – under CEO Oliver Gatzke is hoping to slash costs amid branch closures and increasing digitalisation which has reduced demand for much of its staff, which it plans to decrease in number.

The union counters that the bank should offer a voluntary retirement plan, a move which is viewed as costly and unlikely to reduce staff by the necessary amount.

Gatzke had said the bank has put other problematic practices on the table, including the automatic indexation of wages, employer’s contribution to Etyk’s health fund, and pay rises.

“Salaries cannot rise at a rate of 5 per cent a year given that the bank has not paid out a dividend since 2013,” he noted.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2022/05/24/hell ... next-week/

[memory man]

Hellenic Bank staff to go on 24-hour warning strike on Tuesday

As tension rises, staff at Hellenic Bank will go on a 24-hour warning strike on Tuesday, May 31, accusing the lender’s management of violations of agreements and laws.

Their union, Etyk, has also said in a written statement that the imminent strike is just a warning with measures set to be intensified if the management fails to “comply” with the law.

At the call of Etyk last week as many as 99.5 per cent, or 5,714 members of all banks, voted in favour of the work stoppage.

Hellenic Bank – the island’s second-largest commercial lender – under German CEO Oliver Gatzke is hoping to slash costs amid branch closures and increasing digitalization.

This has reduced demand for much of its staff, which it plans to decrease in number without, however, offering costly redundancy plans.

The union counters that the bank should offer a voluntary retirement plan, a move which the management views as costly and unlikely to reduce staff by the necessary amount.

https://in-cyprus.philenews.com/helleni ... ay-may-31/

[Kili01]

The banking union, like various other trade unions are far too powerful here than they should be. I believe that about 20yrs ago, English bank NatWest, who readers who have been living here some time, may remember once had a branch in Kato Paphos, sold up to a Greek owned bank, because their attempt to increase their banking hours met with the threat of the banking union to strike.

Dee

[jeba]

Can unions legally go on strike anytime they want? Are employers allowed to respond with a lock-out?

[WHL]

The banking union, like various other trade unions are far too powerful here than they should be. I believe that about 20yrs ago, English bank NatWest, who readers who have been living here some time, may remember once had a branch in Kato Paphos, sold up to a Greek owned bank, because their attempt to increase their banking hours met with the threat of the banking union to strike.

Dee

I don't know what you mean by being too powerful, I cant remember the last time, bank employees, over here, went on strike can you?

[Kili01]

They use threatening a strike as a means for protesting and ultimately getting their own way. Be it for increased wages, less hours worked and any cuts in the number of bank employees.
It's obvious now that the bank's insistence on their customers adopting on line banking, which meant that bank staff-cashiers and others, have much less to do, than formerly, would eventually be used as a reason to reduce staff and their wages bill.
Now it's also resulting in closure of many branches, including branches in villages.

Dee