Unions announce mobilizations in the banking sector to ask for salary reviews

MADRID, 4 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

CCOO, UGT and FINE have announced this Tuesday that they will promote a calendar of mobilizations after the meeting held today with the CECA bank employers, since the association would have turned a "deaf ear" to the demands of the unions to review wages, according to They have reported these in a statement.

"The employers are determined to take advantage of this extraordinary situation to devalue our salaries while the management leadership and the shareholders are getting rich. All the negative impact of this uncontrolled inflationary environment is suffered by the templates and by society," the salary organizations have stated.

Given the "immobility" of the bosses, the unions have decided to "take a step forward" and "take the petition to the streets." "Without reaction, we will undertake mobilizations. They have led us into the conflict; if they do not want to attend to reasons at the table they will have to continue listening to our arguments and demands outside of it", they added, before noting that "soon" they will announce the calendar of mobilizations.

The organizations have "demanded" a "change of attitude" before the next meeting with CECA, scheduled for October 20. In addition, the following day, the unions will meet with the Spanish Banking Association (AEB).

The workers' representatives have spent months demanding that the financial sector associations open a negotiation to review the collective agreement based on the provisions of article 86.1 of the Workers' Statute.

As they defend, the current scenario differs from the one that existed at the time of the negotiation of the current agreements (negative interest rates, economic prospects of no recovery for another ten years and a global pandemic). In addition, bank profits have risen, while the working conditions of the workforce and their purchasing power have deteriorated.

The unions have recalled that their proposal is to open the negotiating table of the agreement and a negotiating scheme in salary matters consisting of the recovery of the variable part of the bonus of the 2021 and 2022 agreement, the salary recovery of 2021 through a formula to be negotiated (such as a single payment) and the salary recovery of 2022 (with review of salary tables from January 2022 and the inclusion of a review clause at the end of the year).

The negotiating scheme that they have proposed also contemplates the review clause for 2023 with the formula that is decided and the review of diets, mileage and telecommuting. They have also requested that fixed-rate employee loans be offered.

THE AEB ASKS FOR MORE TIME

It should be noted that the AEB requested at its last meeting with the unions, held on September 29, more time to work internally with the associated banks on the salary review formula and that it will foreseeably be raised at the next meeting, despite that the organizations were already expecting a proposal at that meeting.

"To our surprise, AEB has come with its homework undone and, as promised in the previous meeting, has not presented any specific proposal. On the contrary, they have asked us for more time to work internally with the associated banks in the salary review formula that will be proposed to us at the next meeting", the unions said a few days ago in a joint statement after the meeting with the AEB.

"Our proposal is clear and concise. Now AEB just has to work on it and tell us the terms in which it is willing to discuss in order to reach an agreement at the agreement negotiating table," they added.