A clause in the new collective agreement raised eyebrows among Bank of Valletta staff fearing a possible move to reduce its labour force in the coming years.
Entitled ‘Involuntary redundancies’, the provision obliges the bank to notify the union representing workers in writing “about such cases, outlining the names of employees with their respective role/level and years of service as well as details about terminal benefits”.
BOV employees expressed concern about the new clause.
BOV has been insisting with the unions on the need to reduce its headcount.This clause opens the door
“This is the first time that such a clause has been inserted in a collective agreement,” a branch manager said. “It is known that BOV has been insisting with the unions on the need for the bank to become more productive and further reduce its headcount. This clause opens the door for such steps,” he added.
An employee with the bank for over 20 years said the management had repeatedly mentioned during meetings that there were over 200 “extra” workers, especially at head office.
‘It is only natural to follow lead of HSBC’
“Since HSBC is also getting rid of some people through early retirement schemes, it is only natural that BOV follow suit. The problem is that the early retirement scheme is not open any longer,” he said.
The bank and the General Workers’ Union, which signed the new collective agreement last week, agreed to stop the early retirement scheme in place with the framework of collective agreements negotiated since 2005, this newspaper was told.
A GWU spokesman said that the union had no information that the bank wanted to reduce its workforce. “We have not been given such information and we know of no such plans,” he insisted.
Asked why the union had accepted the ‘involuntary redundancies’ clause in the new collective agreement, the spokesman said that was done to make sure that, if that were to happen, there would be rules to follow.
“In the world of financial services, you never know what will happen. The clause makes it clear what procedures the bank must follow if it wants to make employees redundant,” he said.
According to the spokesman, that was already happening at HSBC, where the work of entire units was being farmed out.
“We just wanted to make sure that rules are in place,” he said.
Asked whether there were any plans to reduce its staff, a BOV spokesman replied: “Every collective agreement signed to date by the bank included provisions for redundancies. The new collective agreement was no exception.”
According to the bank, about 120 officials have opted for early retirement in the past few years.