International Relations

UNI Europa “Call on Slovak Banking Association to return to the negotiation table”

Declaration of UNI Europa Finance and its affiliates who participated at the workshop “Collective bargaining” that took place in Bratislava on 11-12 June 2017, in the frame of the joint project of ITC-ILO and UNI Europa Finance “Strengthening social dialogue in the finance sector” “We strongly denounce the decision of the Slovak Banking Association (SBA) to withdraw from collective bargaining in the banking sector at national level.

Limiting collective bargaining to the company level means less equality for workers and opens the door to a race to the bottom of working conditions and wages. Especially at a time where banks in Slovakia are making record profits, this seems an unfair move: In 2016, banking sector profits in Slovakia have amounted to 700 Million €, which means a year to year increase of 23,8%. The daily work of employees generates such profits. In this light, a fair negotiation at
sector level is a minimum demand.
We believe that decentralisation and individualisation of collective bargaining is a negative trend that is ultimately detrimental to society at large.
The right to collective bargaining is among the core labour standards defined by the ILO and widely recognised as a key tool for social partnership to achieve a win-win situation for business and employment.

Therefore, we fail to understand the reasoning behind SBA’s withdrawal from the bargaining table and we will follow the development in the Slovak banking sector.
In full solidarity with the Slovak Finance sector union OZPPaP and the Slovak trade union confederation KOZ, we call on the Slovak Banking Association to return to the negotiation table and to restart the social dialogue.”