Insider
The goal of Hellenic Bank is to reduce its salary costs, focusing mainly on the renegotiation of several terms of the collective agreement, as stated by the Chief Executive Officer of Hellenic Bank, Oliver Gatzke, in a circular to the staff. He adds that in recent months, several informal meetings were held with the representatives of ETYK, however the goal was not achieved, mainly due to the non-response of the union.
Transformation plan
A renegotiation of the collective agreement in good faith, he notes, which will take into account the need to adjust costs at the behest of the European Central Bank will allow Hellenic Bank to minimize staff departures planned under the transformation plan and to reduce the wage gap between the employees of the former SKT and the former Hellenic Bank.
The Chief Executive Officer of Hellenic Bank refers to continuous cancellations of meetings, at the last minute, by the union, which, as he says, raises doubts about its sincere intention to come to the negotiating table to resolve labor issues.
For this reason, he states, on January 14, he sent a letter to the Deputy Director of the Labor Relations Department of the Ministry of Labor, requesting his mediation for an immediate resumption of the dialogue. The letter explains the bank's challenges and the urgent need to reduce the Expense / Revenue ratio, which is too high (almost 75%). In terms of staff costs, the current Collective Agreement, which has expired (with payroll costs increasing by more than 4.5% per year – excluding ATA), does not allow the bank to achieve the medium-term objectives set out in in the strategic plan, as explained.
“We recently announced that due to Project Starlight and the implementation of the transformation plan, we will not pay any dividends to the shareholders, nor interest to AT1 bondholders for the period 2022-2024. “This reflects the significant commitment of our key shareholders so that the bank can achieve its medium-term goals and maintain a successful transformation plan, which will lead to a modern and financially sound organization,” Gatzke added.
He hopes that the union will attend a meeting tomorrow, after “another attempt” by the Ministry of Labor, to restart the dialogue, with the aim of settling all labor issues, as well as concluding a new collective agreement.
More drastic restructuring measures
The bank assures its staff that its goal is for the new collective agreement to adequately reflect meritocracy and performance-based remuneration. At the same time, he warns that if the gap is not bridged with ETYK due to the fact that the union continues to ignore the challenges, then the bank will have no choice but to move quickly with more drastic restructuring measures.
“Despite the challenges facing the bank,” we want to act in good faith, hence at the end of January we will pay the surcharges and the ATA, based on the collective agreement of each employee, which has expired, “he says.
Hard characterizations by ETYK
At the same time, ETYK issued a circular with harsh characterizations against the Management of the Hellenic Bank, accusing it of concealing that through negotiations the two parties reached an agreement for the contract which, as he says, the Chief Executive Officer himself ex post rejected.
The long circular refers to the targeting of bank employees, while in another point it is stated that “the cost of the Bank per employee is 20% lower than the cost of the employees of other Banks in Cyprus”.
The ETYK circular is as it is:
“Our Organization is obliged to contact you today to restore the real events as they have happened and not as others present them.
a) The Management of Hellenic Bank consciously avoids mentioning the conclusion of an agreement with ETYK. The Management of the Bank can not hide the fact that through one year Negotiations the ETYK and the Bank reached an agreement which the Chief Executive Officer himself subsequently rejected. So the good faith has been recorded and the unreliability of the Bank the same.
b) Some people forget that several colleagues have been here for 30 years now and offer to the Bank and many will be here tomorrow, they will not take the plane and rent their services elsewhere.
c) Also consciously, the current Management of the Bank conceals that it rejected a proposal of the Ministry of Labor (now invoking its services) for the inclusion of ALL employees (Cooperation) in the scales and benefits of other colleagues.
It is known that the results of the Bank prove a wound. The weakness of the Bank is that it lags behind in revenues and its Management is unable to cover this wound. (This is deduced from the comparable data with ALL the other Banks of Cyprus).
The Bank is silent, but so are some “analysts” of the type, since nowhere is it mentioned that the cost of the Bank per employee is 20% lower than the cost of the employees of the other Banks of Cyprus (if necessary we will come back with numbers) .
The Management (recurrence of the Hourican-Bank of Cyprus phenomenon) constantly talks about redundancies and in a way that leads to layoffs at the same time that the Bank has in recent years (even today) a few hundred EMERGENCY employees, who it hired due to NEEDS ( lack of staff).
ETYK has always been a bona fide interlocutor with all the Banks and in fact over time and not every “employee” abroad who knows anything about yesterday and may not be interested in tomorrow to judge and criticize the way ETYK operates .
Unfortunately, the role that the current Greek Administration seeks to play by imposing redundancies, not a Voluntary Retirement Plan, is supported by government circles and not only because it finds supporters and party circles that favor this policy, since for years now they have targeted the Bank.
No one considered (some ignore) the sacrifices (paid or not) made by Bank Employees.
ETYK is closely following the developments, ready to react correctly and effectively. However, it is aware that with its decision, the Management of the Hellenic Bank decided to “lobby” in the media with specific journalists to promote its views, misinforming the public.
We have dealt with paid advertisements repeatedly in the past, so we will deal with it now, as a FAMILY with solidarity.
Finally, we expect the competent Ministry to rise to the occasion and handle the Hellenic Bank in the same way it handles other employers.
We expect from the competent services to take immediate legal action against the Management of the Hellenic Bank due to violations of the Law.
The leadership of our Organization has recently chosen to keep a low profile so as not to torpedo the climate between the two sides.
Nevertheless, the Administration authoritarianly seeks to impose its wishes, taking advantage of its influence in the media.
With the assumption of the duties of the new Chief Executive Officer and before he manages to take over his duties well, he started the statements that he will dismiss hundreds of colleagues as if the purpose of his presence here is to dismiss and leave.
We waited for the Bank's automation to possibly reduce staffing needs (we did not see them), we waited for initiatives to increase the Bank's revenues and unfortunately we did not find such a thing (we are not referring to the increase in customer charges).
Unfortunately, we are witnessing easy solutions that victimize some and not solutions that improve the value of the Bank.
Finally, we left the costs, especially for those who in the media compare Bank Employees with the private sector.
Do the comparisons also affect the high salaries of the Management?
Suffice it to recall the decision of the Parliament, with a law that in 2012 determined the maximum wages in the field of Banks (it concerned the Banks that had a problem of survival).
ETYK reverently supported the restraint of salaries.
Who are the ones who dismantled this law, sending wages soaring?
Until recently, a foreign Director was paid a few million a year and more.
Eventually he left and the Bank works better.
We briefly mention all this today with the assurance that we will return immediately with more details and details.
In conclusion, we emphasize that:
Whoever seeks to make agreements must first teach / implement the agreements and not violate them.
We clarify that there was never a meeting at the Ministry of Labor and that ETYK did not attend.
On the contrary, the Bank not only in several cases ignored the Ministry of Labor but REJECTed decisions / proposals of the Ministry of Labor.
These to restore the truth and if necessary we will come back with evidence.
Tomorrow's meeting at the Ministry of Labor has been scheduled / called by the Ministry for the violations of the Agreements by the Bank's Management (complaints of ETYK) and NOT for the Collective Agreement.
The Bank's Management has NOT submitted any requests to ETYK for the Renewal of the Collective Agreement (as provided by the code), therefore no direct negotiations have taken place that would lead to a deadlock and be referred to the Ministry for mediation.
That is why the Management of the Hellenic Bank must respect the space and the environment of the place and stop poisoning the society with false news and non-existent facts.
We call on the Ministry of Labor to openly and publicly say who does not respect the institutions and the Ministry. Hellenic Bank or ETYK?
We hope it does not turn out that someone came with a specific mission to DISMISS people and leave “.
