Chamber of commerce, employers’ federation condemn bank workers’ strike (Update)
The Cyprus chamber of commerce (Keve) and the employers’ federation (Oev) on Monday strongly condemned the decision by Hellenic bank employees to carry out a three-hour work stoppage.
The bank worker’s union, Etyk, announced last week their decision to strike from 3pm-6pm on Monday.
Keve condemned the “methods and irregular decisions” of Etyk to declare a three-hour work stoppage.
The body said the bank workers’ decision was “completely unjustified, irregular and wilful” and violates the industrial relations code since mediation underway at the Ministry of Labour, has or been officially declared deadlocked.
“It is not possible for Etyk, without taking into account labour institutions, to arbitrarily cause [such] great disruption and huge losses to the Hellenic Bank, and by extension to the banking system and the economy,” Keve said.
The commercial body called on Etyk to “respect the industrial relations code, to immediately lift the strike measures and to come to the dialogue table so that the Hellenic Bank and the banking system can function smoothly.”
At the same time, Keve called on the labour minister to take necessary measures to lift the strike without delay.
Meanwhile, the employers and industrialists’ federation also called for a cancellation of the strike, for “good faith negotiation with the new management to resolve pending issues”.
“The recourse to forceful measures while mediation […] is in progress is a clear violation of the industrial relations code and clearly complicates the bank’s and the [ministry’s] efforts,” Oev stated.
Oev noted that the “extremely fluid and uncertain geopolitical and economic environment, [which] creates […] challenges, risks and threats, [calls for] maximum social understanding and compromise […] without labor unrest.”
Bank employees declared their decision to strike last Friday in order to “convince the management of the Hellenic Bank that it must respect collective agreements and labour institutions.”
The union is demanding that employees be treated as a cohesive group “with the same working conditions, without discrimination and without differences in terms of rights.”
Staff also have the right to partake in excess bank profits, Etyk declared.
“When the Hellenic Bank had losses the staff bore them–now that it has surplus profits […] there should be […] restoration of pay cuts to employees,” the union said.
The union demanded transparency and accused the bank management of limiting rewards to the few.