ECONOMY

Eurobank’s Saturday deal

Eurobank is the first Greek bank to open every Saturday to the public at two new shopping centers in Athens and Thessaloniki, as sealed with the agreement reached this week and hailed yesterday by Eurobank’s employees’ union (Union Eurobank) as a success. The deal, the first outside the collective agreement signed for all banks by the Greek Federation of Bank Employees’ Unions (OTOE), applies to the two Eurobank branches which opened last fall at The Mall Athens and Mediterranean Cosmos in Thessaloniki. It provides for a system of shifts, with the first working from 8.45 a.m. until 3.45 p.m. and the second from 1.45 p.m. to 8.45 p.m., serving the public continuously from 9 in the morning till 8 in the evening. The branches will be open on Saturdays from 10.30 a.m. till 4.30 p.m. and the bank will offer Saturday employees the following Monday off. Work hours are reduced by two every week, from 37 to 35, while opening times will go down by 11 hours per week. An essential condition for each of the 16 employees at those branches is their written consent. Crucially, they will also receive a monthly bonus of 220 to 235 euros per month for working according to this system. The union’s head, Stathis Haritos, responded to the strong reaction by OTOE saying yesterday that unionists should not have double standards, referring to the special agreement with Emporiki Bank for its branch at the Athens International Airport to which OTOE has not objected. The Union Eurobank secretary, Dimitris Kissas, seconded that the union has every legal power to sign on with this agreement. OTOE answered that the working hours of all bank employees are at risk and that the favorable terms mean nothing in practice as Eurobank allegedly does not meet its contract obligations. The head of OTOE, Dimitris Tsoukalas, said the contract will be denounced both in legal and in union terms and referred to conditions of unfair competition created in banks. He accused Eurobank of exercising undue pressure on its unionists who had to succumb, but warned that OTOE will not do so. Tsoukalas called on the Employment Ministry to respond to the deal and repeated that work hours can change only if the Union of Greek Banks introduces such an issue. The president of the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE), Christos Polyzogopoulos, expressed his solidarity with OTOE, branded the Eurobank deal «unfounded» and stated that the unions will not accept it. According to sources from OTOE, its executive committee and then its General Council will today hold an emergency meeting, where they will decide on a legal reaction to the agreement, discuss the deposition by Haritos from his position at OTOE and confirm the will to block the agreement in practice.

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