Arbitration in bank dispute

THE NATIONAL Bank of Greece and bank employees union ETYK have agreed on talks to resolve a dispute that could set a precedent on labour disputes within the sector.

In a deal brokered by Labor Minister Antonis Vassiliou, the two sides agreed to the establishment of an independent arbitration committee, whose verdict will be binding.

The row centres round the seconding of two employees from the bank’s Athens headquarters to its Cyprus operations. NBG insists it reserves the right to hire anyone for any amount of time, needing permission only from the Labour Ministry. For the bank, it is a purely legal issue.

By contrast, ETYK says employment practices are subject to collective agreements and the Industrial Relations Code. The union is worried that if employees from abroad are brought in, local staff might be passed over.

The dispute is seen as a test case both in regard to hiring practices in the banking sector but, moreover, to the grip the union has traditionally held over individual banks.

Next week, ETYK and the bank will separately submit names of people they want to be on the arbitration committee.

Vassiliou, who yesterday finally got the two sides to sit down at the same table, said he hoped they would act “maturely and responsibly”.

“They have realised that the difference must be settled at the table of negotiations… and not by trench warfare,” he said.

Yesterday’s development represents a small step forward, the two camps essentially agreeing on the procedure to be followed next.

NBG reopened for business earlier this month, after a four-week lockout called by management in response to a strike by its IT department.

The six IT staff had walked out on the orders of ETYK, reportedly taking with them the access codes to the computer network, crippling the bank’s day-to-day business.

Meanwhile the vast majority of NBG employees had sided with management, in defiance of the union

IT experts brought in were able to hack into the system in the nick of time and salvage the data before it was gone.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.