‘Token’ industrial action held at Romania’s largest bank

On 13 August 2008, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions (FSI) launched ‘token’ industrial action at the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR) in support of demands over unpaid overtime work, weekly rest periods and wage disparities, and concerns over potential collective redundancies. The protest was due to last three days but was suspended after two days when management invited the trade union to negotiate.

The context

The Romanian Commercial Bank (Banca Comercială Română, BCR) is the largest banking institution in Romania. At the end of 2005, it was acquired by the Austria-based Erste Bank Group.

In 2003, the BCR had some 12,200 employees, in 2005, 11,584 employees, by mid-2008, 9,560 employee s, to be further reduced to 8,200 by the end of the year. Over this period, collective redundancies have been a major concern for employees and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions (Federaţia Sindicatelor Independente, FSI), which represents some three-quarters of BCR staff.

During 2008, FSI has accused company management of ‘unfair personnel policies’, namely:

• Requiring unpaid overtime work;

• Failing to observe weekly rest periods;

• Maintaining inequitable wage differentials – according to the unions, some workers, though with only one or two years’ service, are remunerated (taking into account basic salaries, bonuses and fringe benefits) much better than experienced employees holding similar positions;

• Treating pay scales as indicative, not compulsory;

• Contemplating further collective redundancies.

‘Most workers start work at 09.00 and come out of work around 20.00 hrs, with no payment for overtime, or compensation through days off. Very many workers had to go on sick leave due to the unbearable stress at work’, claimed the FSI.

Token industrial action

On 12 August 2008, the FSI announced that BCR employees would go on a three-day ‘token strike’ from the next day, in protest at these perceived unfair practices. As a result, on 13 August, FSI members went to work wearing a white armband, as a first step towards what could have turned into a full-scale strike.

BCR management argued that ‘the protest staged has no justification as long as the management is open to the dialogue between parties’. It also said that it had made a number of proposals to union members on the issues raised, but that these proposals had received no response from the union.

The FSI claimed that the management proposals had been made to the employees through the bank’s internal means of communication, not through union representatives. ‘In practice, they have totally ignored that the workers are represented by a union, they skipped the union, and took a shortcut to the employees, a shortcut that could not produce any legal effects’, FSI stated.

Union members had requested management to make its proposals in writing, dealing with their demands item by item, and stated that no such response had come from management by the date their protest started. With regard to job losses, FSI claimed that although it had ‘objected, with valid arguments, to the management’s initial intentions, which then became a decision, the management simply ignores our viewpoint, which means that soon we may receive the notification of collective redundancies.’ The union warned that, should this happen, the remaining staff would be further burdened with the tasks of the redundant workers.

Action called off

After two days of protest, the token strike initially planned for three days stopped after the management invited the union to negotiate. Reportedly concerned by the prospect that the protest might extend to BCR’s other divisions (in insurance activities), management stated that ‘we strongly believe that the dialogue initiated with the union leaders is the best way towards the settlement of any problem at issue.’ The FSI said that ‘the dialogue is still open, provided that it generates solutions.’

Commentary

Industrial action is very rare in the Romanian banking sector, and the first-ever protest action occurred in 2006 at the Raiffeisen Bank (RO0605029I). In 2008, as well as the BCR case, worker s at the Romanian Bank for Development (Banca Româna de Dezvoltare, BRD) have threatened action in support of demands for pay raises and payment for overtime work. The average gross monthly earnings in banking, at approximately EUR 1,000, are over 2.3 times higher than national average earnings.

It seems that the main bone of contention in the BCR dispute is the prospect of collective redundancies, and particularly trade union concern over what it regards as a lack of transparency and respect for legal requirements. The union is also concerned to obtain compensation if a workforce reduction occurs and this means additional effort and even more overtime for the remaining staff.

Ciutacu Constatin, Institute of National Economy, Romanian Academy