THE NATIONAL Bank of Greece has scored another point in its ongoing feud with ETYK, the blanket union of bank employees.
ETYK had taken recourse to the Supreme Court, asking the court to declare as illegal a breakaway trade union formed by NBG employees with management’s blessings.
But yesterday the top court ruled in favor of the splinter union, which is known by its acronym SYPETE. ETYK has the right of appeal.
ETYK was suing the Republic, demanding the annulment of a decision by the Registrar of Trade Unions to register SYPETE.
Effectively, ETYK was arguing that many of its own members had been pressured or forced into leaving and joining the other union.
The judge found that ETYK had “no legal interest” in the existence of SYPETE, given that “each member of ETYK has the constitutional and contractual right to join or leave ETYK or any other trade union…”
Moreover, the court said in its ruling, “ETYK does not have the right to forbid an individual from joining or leaving it….therefore, ETYK cannot have a legal interest in protecting a member. Otherwise, ETYK would be acting as a protector and…would be taking on a paternalistic role, which is not commensurate with an individual’s right to choose.”
In addition, the Registrar of Trade Unions had asked for a legal reasoning from the Attorney-general on whether SYPETE should be listed; the Attorney-general had said yes.
Had ETYK won the case, it would have effectively signaled the dissolution of their rivals SYPETE.
“Not only that, but it would also have meant that SYPETE had never existed at any time, since the decision would apply retrospectively,” said Alecos Markides, head of the legal team representing SYPETE.
The showdown between the powerful union, which represents some 10,000 employees, and SYPETE dates back to the summer of 2007. The NBG was shut down for a month after employees at the IT department went on strike, reportedly at the behest of ETYK. In a suspected act of sabotage, the IT staff had taken with them the access codes to the computer network, crippling the bank’s operations.
The crisis had been precipitated by the hiring of two non-Cypriot employees, a move that infuriated ETYK. When it was over, the majority of the bank’s employees went on to form a splinter union – a direct challenge to ETYK’s authority.
SYPETE, the new trade union, claims to now represent about two-thirds of the bank’s staff of 300. The Mail understands, however, that a number of employees, hedging their bets, may be registered with both unions.
More recently, the bank sacked two executives who had allegedly been involved in the events of the summer of 2007. A Labour Ministry arbitrator subsequently found NBG to have acted wrongfully and ordered the bank to rehire the two. The bank complied.
