Unions call for dialogue on impact of EMU on employment in banks

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In late 1997, the Greek Federation of Bank Employee Unions expressed its concerns about the impact of EMU on employment in banks, and called on employers, the Government and the Bank of Greece to take part in a dialogue to tackle any potentially unfavourable consequences for workers .

The Greek Federation of Bank Employee Unions (OTOE) has expressed its concerns about the impact of EU Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on employment in banks, and has called on the sector's employers' organisation, the Government and the Bank of Greece to participate in a dialogue to tackle any potentially unfavourable consequences for workers while there is still time. The OTOE's concern arises from the results of studies. according to which employment in the banking sector may fall off sharply for three reasons:

• the introduction of the single currency;

• the continuing introduction of new technologies; and

• an impending series of bank privatisations and mergers.

In particular, a severe reduction is anticipated in the need for staff employed in foreign exchange, portfolio management, investments and foreign departments as well as in the Bank of Greece. The central employers' organisation agrees that the coming changes will reduce the number of jobs requiring little specialisation, but points out that there will be more jobs for users of new technology as well as jobs requiring direct contact with customers.

A study conducted by the OTOE indicates that the Greek banking sector, and the state banking sector in particular, has not yet introduced all the new operations available elsewhere in the world and has therefore still some room for expansion. The employers' side agrees with this finding; it points out that in Greece the number of bank employees as a percentage of total employees is small compared with other countries of the European Union, a fact which reveals the scope for further expansion in the sector. Therefore, reductions in the number of employees that will come about as a result of the introduction of the Euro and new technologies, may be counterbalanced by expansion elsewhere in the sector.

This view is shared by the Bank of Greece, Greece's central bank, which stresses that in Greece the introduction of the Euro will not have a dramatic impact on employment because the volume of transactions involving the drachma and the other currencies of the European Union is relatively small. On the contrary, an increase in employment should be expected owing to the recruitment of specialised executives as banking operations turn towards the currencies of the emerging markets, as well as towards dollar-Euro and dollar-yen transactions.

The OTOE, which accepts the above assessments, nevertheless argues that reductions in employment in banks arising from the combined action of mergers, privatisations, introduction of new technologies and participation in EMU will be so great that they may quite possibly exceed the increase in employment arising from expansion of banking operations. The union foresees, for instance, that the number of staff employed by the National Bank of Greece, the country's largest commercial bank, will fall from 15,000 in 1997 to 10,000 in 2005. For this reason, it proposes on the one hand reducing weekly working time from 38 hours 20 minutes to 35 hours (GR9711137F), and on the other hand it has invited the employers' side, the Government and the Bank of Greece to take part in a dialogue to study in greater depth the question of employment in banks over the next 10 years.