The union agreement fell through, Banco Bpm seems willing to proceed on the plan of more 1,600 exits e 800 hires for a total, therefore, of 800 net exits. Plan announced at the end of 2023 and on which workers’ representatives had sought mediation. The hottest point of the confrontation between the bank and the acronyms concerned the relationship between income and expenditure.
The practice
In the field of credit there is a sort of practicea tacit agreement between banks and unions, according to which every two exits must be guaranteed a new hire. Banco Bpm has said it is willing to proceed along this path, which has been taken several times by other players. But economic sustainability, the top management declared, has prevented it from doing more than the consolidated practice.
Divided unions
The goal was to reach an agreement by June 30, but negotiations derailed in the last week of the month. Fabi e Unisin they would have been open to discussion while i confederal unions, First, fisac e Uilca they have abandoned the negotiation last March 7th.
In a note, Banco Bpm explains that “in a regularly convened meeting, First, Fisac and Uilca decided to leave the table just when the expected issue of the fund for incentivized exits was being addressed. We decided to continue negotiations with the representatives of the other two unions, Fabi and Unisin, who remained responsibly to negotiate, out of fairness towards them and all the workers of the Group who, as is known, expect the company to provide answers on a topic that generates a lot of interest”.
“This measure – namely the plan of two early retirements for each new hire – is fully compatible with what is defined in the Industrial Plan and allows us to hire a significant number of young people, around 800, guaranteeing an important generational and managerial turnover”, it is added.
In an internal communication to employees, Banco Bpm announced that it is ready to proceed without a union agreement. At the moment there would already be over 500 voluntary requests for exits of the same number of employees and officials who would have requested access to the incentivized retirement plan.
This situation would allow “to be able to accommodate the possible requests of over 2,000 people, most of whom we understand are already interested, who could have access to a solidarity fund”.
Two parallel negotiations
The negotiation with Banco Bpm on incentivized exits “will continue with two tables: one composed of the majority (First Cisl, Uilca Uil e Fisac Cgil) and one of minority (Fabi e Unisin) on all issues because we have not broken off negotiations with the company and we are always ready to continue negotiating to reach agreements that are also convenient for the workers”.
“We have read – criticize the majority unions – with a smile on the lips the flyer of Fabi and Unisin, full of a reality enriched with imaginative elements“.
But the knots to be untied between Banco Bpm and the unions also concern other points, such as the company bonus and the classifications for new professional figures. The risk is that the breakdown of negotiations on exits and hiring could slow down the work expected in July.
