Banking sector trade unions to form federation

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In late 2002, the process of creating a national federation of the three Portuguese bank workers' trade unions affiliated to the UGT confederation is nearly complete. The new federation will comprise regional banking unions from the north, centre and south of the country, and represents an attempt by the unions to strengthen their negotiating capacity in the light of the concentration of firms within the sector.

In November 2002, the end of the process of creating a national federation of bank workers' trade unions is in sight. It will comprise the banking unions from the north, centre and south of the country which are affiliated to the General Workers' Union (União Geral de Trabalhadores, UGT). The Banking Trade Union of the South and Islands (Sindicato dos Bancários do Sul e Ilhas, SBSI) is the largest Portuguese trade union and the banking unions are the only ones in the country with responsibility for the management of a special supplementary health, social assistance and pensions scheme for their members, known as SAMS (PT0107156N).

The three banking unions involved are 'vertical' structures, which means, according to their statutes, that they can organise all occupational categories in the sector, which currently employs 75,000 workers. The unionisation rate in the banking sector is very high - according to a 1995 study, it was 92% at a time when the average national rate was just 30%.

The three UGT banking unions see the establishment of a federation as a means of organising themselves and strengthening their negotiating capacity in the light of economic concentration within the banking sector. It is also seen as a way of reinforcing the unions' management role in the areas of supplementary health and pension services, against the background of increasing numbers of pensioners and a growing demand for health services. The new structure should enable:

• savings in certain technical services, particularly legal and economic services;

• a greater uniformity of trade union responses, both at regional level and in the workplace, to address the concrete problems that the unions face, such as flexible working time;

• uniformity and equal access to SAMS health services throughout the country; and

• the possible creation of a study centre for economic and social issues

The new federation will be responsible for the negotiation of the banking sector collective agreement, and management of a single SAMS service.

According to SBSI, the plan to establish a federation was first mooted over 15 years ago, the aim being to create a stronger structure in which the regional bank workers' unions could still maintain their independence. The creation of the federation now is in response to the formation of other trade unions in the sector and the merger and steady concentration of banks. The individual trade unions will retain their power through the establishment of majority decision-making mechanisms, a regional balance within the federation, and continued responsibilities in relation to contact with the workplace.