In early summer 2005, a proposed merger between the German HVB and Italian UniCredito banking groups has aroused fears among trade unions representing staff at Polish banks owned by the two companies. The unions fear that merger will result in major job losses.
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In early summer 2005, a proposed merger between the German HVB and Italian UniCredito banking groups has aroused fears among trade unions representing staff at Polish banks owned by the two companies. The unions fear that merger will result in major job losses.
Potentially the biggest bank merger in Europe, the proposed EUR 19 billion takeover of the German HVB by the Italian UniCredito group, has aroused concern among trade unions in the banking sector in Poland. The banks hold majority stakes in two Polish banks - Pekao S.A. (Uni Credito) and Bank Przemysłowo Handlowy, BPH (HVB)
The atmosphere was stirred by a statement by the Italian group’s representative during a press conference that the merger would help to cut costs by EUR 900 million a year. This implies that some 9,200 people out of 127,000 bank employees (7% of the total staff) would lose jobs. Speakers at the press conference added that relatively more white-collar staff - some 9% of the total - would have to leave the UniCredito and HVB banks in central Europe (Poland, Bulgaria and Croatia). This indicates that Pekao S.A. and BPH in Poland would make redundant 2,500 people (the two banks together employ 25,000 people). Analysts estimate that the number of job losses could even reach 6,000. This - in their opinion -could be likely, because the two banks’ activities in Poland are similar. Both are major retail banks with more than 1,200 outlets located in major cities.
The analysts’ prediction matches that of the BPH trade union president, who told reporters that 'the banks’ chain of outlets are much the same. And if a smaller merger had already caused lay-offs of 4,500 people it is hard to believe that this time it could stop at 2,500'.
The envisaged merger has been negatively assessed by representatives of the the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarity (Niezależny Samorządny Związek Zawodowy, NSZZ Solidarność) at Pekao S.A. The Pekao’s staff’s experience is that the process of consolidation and privatisation of this bank has so far entailed an employment reduction from 26,000 in 1999 to 15,000 at the end of April 2005, and therefore the news of the merger caused fear of further job loss. This fear has been augmented by statements from Italian and German unions, which say lay-offs in their own countries would be unacceptable. The NSZZ S does not want the Polish employees of the consolidated banks to be treated worse than their German and Italian colleagues.
Furthermore, privatisation, which affected this bank in 1999, proved to be a very painful experience for the unions, which were not invited to participate in the process of setting the objectives and privatisation strategy, nor did they negotiate the social package deal. Therefore it is not surprising that the NSZZ S position at present is that:
the management of the newly established bank should present short-, medium-, and long-term strategies regarding the merger, with a special stress on the changes that would affect the existing outlet chains in Poland, the reorganisation, technical changes and employment reduction; and
a system of negotiation guarantees should be fixed - in the course of the merger process - for collective agreements, which would guarantee equal treatment of employees within the group when it comes to employment, pay, social protection and other human resources matters.
Trade unions warn that unless these terms are met they will do whatever they can to thwart the merger in Poland. They also express hopes that all trade unions operating within the two banks will soon undertake joint actions in order to restrain the negative effects of the merger and protect the rights of employees.
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Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2005), Trade unions alarmed by proposed bank merger , article.
