The Mais Sindicato and the bank workers unions of the Center (SBC) and the North (SBN) claim 8.5% increase salary and extraordinary support for active workers and retirees, noting that the negotiations “must be fast”.
In a statement released today, the three unions that make up the Federation of the Financial Sector (FEBASE) claim to have delivered at the beginning of the month to the subscribing credit institutions of the Collective Labor Agreement (ACT) of the banking sector a proposal of 8.5% for the updating of tables and clauses of pecuniary expression in 2023.
“But, given the difficulties faced by workers, the proposal also includes extraordinary support measures for bank employees in active service and in a situation of retirement and the revision of clauses,” they point out, warning that “Negotiations must be fast????????
According to the unions, “faced with the current situation, it is necessary to go longer to compensate the banks, not active in the reform, for loss of performance”: “For these unions there is no reason to increase salaries – it is urgent to demand extraordinary support measures for all”.
Thus, they advance, the document delivered at the beginning of the month to the credit institutions “also contains revision proposals and inclusion of clauses with a view to modifying some matters, as well as introducing new issues that help bank employees, guaranteeing existing rights and contracting others”.
“Housing loans, teleworking, absences from attendance, vacations, subsidies, promotions and careers are just some of the issues that will be on the table in the discussion with all the institutions, which should begin shortly after receiving your counterproposal. whose legal delivery period is one month“, they refer.
The unions also point out that “essential that the negotiation process be carried out as quickly as possible“, guaranteeing that “they are not available to postpone their conclusion as it happened in the recent past”.
“If the credit institutions intend to prolong the negotiations with intransigent positions, the unions will not hesitate to move forward with the legal measures available to overcome the situation,” they warn.
Maintaining that “the reality of the workers is serious and incompatible with the negotiation blockades, not being compatible with attitudes like those of the bank in 2021”, Mais, SBC and SBN recall how “the 2021 process […] It was exhausting, when the unions clashed with the intention of the banks of 0% salary increase????????
“This position forcefully repudiated by the unions generated a negotiating blockade and consequent recourse to the conciliation phase mediated by the Ministry of Labor,” they recall, adding that, however, and given the “urgent need to guarantee salary increases to employees active and retired bank workers”, in March of this year, the FEBASE unions completed the review of the banking sector law for 2021 and 2022, with the processing of salaries for their affiliates taking place in April and May.
????????A history that cannot be repeated!“, they warn.
According to the unions, the proposals now presented take into account that the Portuguese banking system “has shown strong resilience and notable improvements in several areas”, having ended up “reasonably accommodating the negative consequences caused by the pandemic crisis” and “not having suffered significant negative effects on liquidity, solvency, profitability and the respective efficiency.
“The evolution has been quite favourable, being at the level of the best standards of the European banking system,” they point out.
On the other hand, “bank workers have not benefited from the gains in productivity and benefits presented by the institutions (five million euros a day)”, being “the vast majority […] live with very low pensions and with many difficulties????????
In addition, either as a consequence of the rise in inflation derived from the pandemic crisis and the war in Ukraine, or from the “insufficient salary evolution registered in recent years”, the unions maintain that “bank workers in service and retired They will face a particularly difficult year, which is why banks have, more than ever, to assume their social responsibility towards workers”.
“In addition, SBC and SBN will do everything possible to defend their negotiation proposal, committing all the means at their disposal to guarantee salary justice for bank employees,” they guarantee.
Source: Observadora
