Agreement at BBK savings bank focuses on work-sharing

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An October 1997 agreement at the Spanish savings bank, BBK, has launched discussions on the best way to achieve work-sharing policies in an attempt to create employment.

After 10 months of intermittent bargaining, the CC.OO, UGT and ELA trade unions and the management of the savings bank Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa (BBK) signed in October 1997 a new collective agreement for a period of three years (1997/9). In addition to a 2% pay increase, better conditions for staff loans and the setting up of commissions to study the application of legislation on equal opportunities and the prevention of industrial accidents, the agreement contains notable provisions on the regulation of working time and job creation.

BBK is one of the Spanish banks that had extended work rosters in some of its offices, opening in the afternoon four days a week and on Saturday mornings. The new agreement reduces the number of branches that will have the extended opening hours from 60 to 37, and fixes the extended opening hours at 16.45 to 19.45 instead of 15.00 to 18.00. On working days, these new opening hours must be covered as before by staff from the same office using their normal working hours; on Saturdays, the branches will be staffed by voluntary employees who will also use their normal working hours and receive a monthly bonus in compensation. For the first time the agreement also regulates the special opening times for branches in busy areas such as airports or hypermarkets .

Other features of the agreement include the bank's commitment to create 100 jobs over two years through part-time temporary contracts and by converting 30 temporary contracts into permanent contracts.

Another important point is the setting up of a joint commission to develop work-sharing policies. The workers' representatives propose that some workers should voluntarily relinquish part of their working hours (currently 1,530 hours per year), which would then be covered by part-time workers with fixed-term contracts. The possibility of extending opening hours in more branches in exchange for the creation of permanent jobs is also being considered, as is voluntary early retirement. Finally, staff should be dissuaded from working voluntarily on Saturdays and from working overtime due to extraordinary circumstances on a periodical or occasional basis or on a daily basis (15 to 30 minutes more). Up to now this practice has been compensated by bonuses (for Saturdays), days off (more difficult) or promotion (very difficult, in return for commitment to the company). The objective is to reverse the banking sector's traditional practice of not hiring part-time staff.

Management is favourable to some of these proposals, as they would provide greater flexibility. They would also allow them to recruit staff with higher levels of training selected through temporary contracts, who adapt more easily to the requirements of the company and involve lower labour costs.

The regulation of all opening hours by agreement and the creation of the joint commission open the door to a discussion of work-sharing, which until recently was merely theoretical. The workers' representatives will now have to study the options and their implementation, which in some cases requires a major change in mentality. It is now not merely a question of creating jobs and security, but also one of creating job with the best conditions.