BANKS across the island will stage a two-hour stoppage on Monday, in sympathy with their colleagues at the National Bank of Greece, the bankers’ unions ETYK said yesterday.
The walkout was announced by ETYK boss Loizos Hadjicostis, who also said the union would submit a strike benefit to the employees of NBG.
Monday’s stoppage will last from 12.30pm to 2.30pm.
Hadjicostis said the union had decided to help the employees, since the bank had the obligation to pay their salaries in the first place.
“At a later stage, we shall claim the sum with all legal means,” he added.
Payment of the strike benefit will be conditional, however.
Hadjicostis said: “The sum will cover three-quarters of the lost salaries with a maximum sum of £1,000 for 22 days of lock out. The National Bank employees will have to present the payment slip and will have to sign a solemn declaration that they have not worked for the bank during the lock out.
“They will also sign an authorisation that they will file a legal action against the bank in order to claim their lost salaries.”
Hadjicostis clarified that ETYK would not give a strike benefit to employees who have been struck off by the union, and criticised the fact that in certain NBG branches there are certain employees who serve specific customers, hinting that the bank is lying when it says that its operations are paralysed.
Earlier this month, the bank called a lockout after four employees at its IT department went on strike, reportedly on the orders of ETYK. The four employees allegedly took with them the access codes to the computer network.
The dispute between the union and NBG arose after three employees from the bank’s Greece headquarters were seconded to its Cyprus branch.
ETYK insists the seconding of staff is subject to its approval, according to collective agreements in force in the banking sector. It worries that local staff may be passed over if such practices are not checked.
NBG’s view is that they reserve the right to hire anyone for any amount of time, needing permission only from the Labour Ministry. The bank has also cited the EU acquis on the free movement of labour.
But NBG general manager Michalis Kokkinos was none too impressed with ETYK’s double whammy yesterday.
Speaking on state radio yesterday, Kokkinos said it was the union’s stance that was hurting employees at NBG, not the other way round.
“When the banks voted on the strike [by the IT staff], they were doing us harm.”
He suggested that the vote was engineered by the union to put the squeeze on NBG.
“ETYK does not care about the consequences of its actions on the market. To our own customers, we can only apologise, and we hope that this misadventure ends soon,” said Kokkinos.
He also attacked ETYK’s Hadjicostis personally.
“This man stops at nothing, and mocks everyone. Why all this concern with the fact we continue to service certain customers, as he says? Would he like it better if we served no one? I guess that would make his IT strike more effective. Is that what’s bothering him?”
And he rubbished Hadjicostis’ slant that the union was looking out for its members.
“The union’s charter clearly states that ETYK pays a benefit in the event of a strike or a counter-strike. To that end, ETYK keeps a special fund, for which it collects contributions from its members. So why are they making this out to be an act of charity or good will? It’s a travesty.”
