Banking unions associated with UGT said on Thursday that they insist on wage increases of more than 3% and that if there is no agreement with the banks in the conciliation process, they will move on to the next stages, mediation and arbitration.
In a statement, MAIS, SBN and SBC again rejected the wage increase proposals made by the banks and said that if there is no agreement in the three conciliation processes being carried out by the Ministry of Labor, they will move on to the next phases.
“The salary review processes are in the conciliation phase at the Ministry of Labor. But if the conflict is not resolved at this stage in a way that allows for fair increases for bank employees, we will move on to the remaining phases, from mediation to arbitration,” the banks said in the press release.
Conciliation consists of a negotiation assisted by a mediator appointed by the Directorate General of Employment and Labour Relations (DGERT) to help the parties reach an agreement. In mediation, the mediator makes a proposal to the parties who can accept or reject it. Arbitration occurs when other means of resolving the conflict have been exhausted.
As regards the three conciliation processes, a meeting has already taken place between these unions and the negotiating group of banks that signed the Collective Labour Agreement for the banking sector (there are around 20 of them, in the case of Santander Totta, Novo Banco and BPI), but without results.
The first meeting with BCP (which has its own collective agreement) will be this week and the first meeting with Banco Montepio (which also has its own collective agreement) should take place in mid-September.
The banking negotiating committee and Montepio propose increases of 3% and the BCP of 2.25%. The BCP and the banks that subscribe to ACT have already implemented the proposed increases, even before negotiating an agreement.
The UGT unions are demanding wage increases of 3.5% in several roundtables, after reformulating the initial proposals, which were around 6%.
The unions say that the 3% increases are insufficient, justifying them with the increase in the cost of living and the high profits that the bank has. They also claim that the bonuses that the banks claim to give do not compensate for the low salaries of bank employees and that they have “unclear criteria, are not for all workers or equal for all and, in addition, do not count towards the calculation of future retirement.”
“In Spain, credit institutions agreed to increase by 4.25% in 2024 and 4% in 2025. Why is it different in Portugal, even for banks with capital in both countries? Profits will only be distributed among shareholders and directors,” question the unions linked to UGT.
As for other salary negotiations in the banking sector, the National Union of Banking Personnel and Technicians (SNQTB) agreed with the banks to subscribe to ACT increases of 3% this year, which the unions affiliated to UGT refused to do and considered that accepting this amount was “betraying the banking employees.”
Source: Observadora
