Prima pagină » English » Employees Of Romanian Lender BCR Call Off Gen Strike

Employees Of Romanian Lender BCR Call Off Gen Strike

Unionists with Romania’s largest lender, Erste Bank-owned Banca Comerciala Romana, or BCR, decided to call off the general strike set to start Wednesday after they received a new wage offer from the management.
Employees Of Romanian Lender BCR Call Off Gen Strike
13 ian. 2009, 11:35, English

Union leader Ciprian Ionescu told MEDIAFAX Tuesday that, following the latest offer from the management, the two parties will have new meetings to try to reach an agreement on the collective labor contract.

"The management’s latest offer includes vacation and holiday bonuses, which depend on a indicator that is easier to achieve than the one proposed initially. On the other hand, the management agrees to severance pay and wage increase of 50% of the inflation rate, but we haven’t received any signals regarding wage increases,” the union leader said.

He added the new offer will be analyzed Tuesday and the union will meet with bank officials again this week.

"We’re calling off the strike planned for Wednesday because we want to take all the negotiation steps,” Ionescu said.

The management of BCR decided Monday evening, after a new meeting with union leaders, to draw up and present a seventh and final offer to the Federation of Independent Unions (FSI) within BCR, the lender said in a press release Tuesday.

The lender added the new offer meets nearly all the union’s demands and includes a potential bonus for employees based on clearly defined performance criteria.

"BCR hopes the step made to improve its offer will be evaluated carefully and maturely by the union and employees and the strike will be called off,” the bank added.

BCR employees demanded a 3% wage increase, beside an increase of 50% of the 2008 inflation rate and said they would go on a general strike starting Wednesday.

The bank’s management filed a claim at the Bucharest Court against its employees’ strike plans.

Union leader Ciprian Ionescu said the employees’ 20008 collective labor contract stipulated an increase of 50% of the inflation rate, as well as Christmas and vacation bonuses equal to one month’s salary, which the management planned to scrap in 2009.

BCR’s net profit stood at 1.24 billion lei (EUR1=RON4.2684) in the first nine months of 2008, up 71.8% on the year. The bank’s assets increased 4%, to RON62 billion end September.