NEGOTIATIONS between the banks and their workers’ union broke down yesterday, signalling more hardships for consumers with the two main banks set to close to the public tomorrow.
According to reports, the negotiations were interrupted after around six hours when the employers’ association (BEA) withdrew from talks after the bank employees’ union (ETYK) refused to lift strike measures at the Popular Bank’s computing centre.
Staff at Laiki’s computing centre are refusing to work in the afternoon, accusing the bank of bringing in private contractors in violation of the current collective agreement.
Employers say that without full coverage at the centre, the reliability of transactions would be compromised and have therefore closed the bank.
On Monday, Bank of Cyprus (BoC) had followed Laiki in closing down, arguing there would be a knock-on effect on its transactions.
BoC, however, opened for the public yesterday – while Laiki remained closed – and had said it would also open tomorrow. But after the breakdown of yesterday’s talks, the bank said it too would be closed on Friday.
Earlier yesterday, the Governor of the Central Bank, Christodoulos Christodoulou, warned that a potential escalation of the dispute would seriously hurt the banking sector and the economy as a whole.
Speaking after a meeting with Labour Minister Nicos Moushiouttas, whose personal intervention succeeded in bringing the two sides back to the negotiating table, Christodoulou said he was hopeful that yesterday’s negotiations would lift the measures and improve the climate between the two sides.
“What is happening today is the result of an alleged blatant violation of the agreements on the part of one bank,” Christodoulou said.
He added that the effects of the spat between ETYK and the BEA have so far been more of a psychological nature, though the greatest concern was the escalation of the measures.
Moushiouttas revealed that his ministry’s attempts to alleviate the situation in the banking sector were due to the backstage contacts Christodoulou had had with the two sides.
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.
