Bank, union make joint declaration on collective agreement

The HSBC and the General Workers' Union said yesterday that when public holidays fell on Saturdays or Sundays, they would act in accordance with the provisions of the collective agreement and within the spirit and letter of the law.

They made the declaration in a joint statement in which they said that representatives "met again to clear up the misunderstandings that have arisen regarding the terms of the collective agreement, following recent media reports".

The "misunderstandings" were sparked off by a GWU statement last week announcing the signing of a collective agreement that also covered the issue of public holidays falling over the weekend. This was interpreted by the media as meaning that HSBC had agreed to grant to workers such public holidays. The government has announced such holidays would no longer be added to employees' leave entitlement and the law would be changed for this purpose.

Eventually, the bank declared it had not agreed to grant additional leave for public holidays that fall on a Saturday or Sunday "if the government changes the law".

The GWU had reacted immediately and pointed out that clause 2(e) of the agreement signed by the bank management and the union laid down that "in the event of a public holiday falling on a Sunday or a non-working day, one day leave will be added to the employees' annual leave".

In the joint-statement, HSBC's chief operating officer, Martin Wilkins said: "The bank believes this collective agreement is highly significant within the banking sector. The past months have seen intensive and diligent negotiations taking place with the GWU with whom we maintain a positive relationship. As a result, an agreement was reached, before the expiry of the current collective agreement, which is in the interests of all parties involved. The GWU represents the non-clerical grades within the bank".

He added: "From HSBC's point, this agreement was a balancing act between the needs of the three major stakeholders in HSBC: our customers, our staff and our shareholders. Throughout the negotiations, the bank kept the customer as its focal point. I believe that the agreement, whilst safeguarding and improving the working environment of our staff and protecting the interests of shareholders, will also translate into an improved service proposition to our customers".

Karmenu Vella, secretary of the GWU's media and services section, said "We believe that this proposed collective agreement recognises the contribution of our members to the continued success of HSBC in Malta and will see our members emerging with strongly improved conditions of employment. We are pleased to have seen this agreement finalised and we are delighted that our members have also endorsed this deal".