The bank faces a salary review for its 140,000 employees after record results

VALENCIA (EFE). Banks and unions will resume the negotiation of collective agreements for 2024-2026 in a few days, with the aim of securing salary increases that prevent the 140,000 employees in the sector from losing purchasing power in a time marked by inflation and the record profits of the entities.

With less than a month left until the current agreement expires, the first to sit at the table, on December 12, will be the representatives of the CECA, the employers’ association of the banks created by the former savings banks, such as CaixaBank, Ibercaja or Unicaja, and two days later the AEB banks will do so, which includes, among others, Banco Santander, BBVA, Sabadell or Bankinter.

The union part -CCOO, UGT and FINE- is committed to working as quickly as possible to reach agreements before the shareholders’ meetings of the entities, called for the first quarter of 2024.

The most important and urgent of these agreements is the salary package, which seeks an improvement of 4% in tables for 2024 and 3% in 2025 and 2026, percentages that could increase to another point if inflation exceeded 4%.

They also want to set a 1% cap on the interest on loans granted to employees, including mortgages, which they want to have approved at most “in a couple of months,” union sources have explained to EFE.

A few months ago, the unions already managed to reopen the agreements that were in force to incorporate salary increases of 3.5%, in addition to the 1.25% agreed for 2022 and thus soften the impact of inflation, which closed the year at 5, 7%.

What does the bank say?

In statements to EFE, the AEB banking association trusts that the dialogue will culminate in a “balanced” agreement for both parties and recalls that the negotiations are in the initial phase, since they began only a month ago, so until now They only have the “first proposals”, which “we always respect”.

The banking association also highlights that it has always supported the agreement through permanent dialogue with the unions, as demonstrated by the fact that this agreement will be number 25 in its history.

The employers of the old savings banks, the CECA, point out, for their part, that they are analyzing the entire package of measures that the unions have requested to form their proposal.

What do the unions propose?

The three union centers have several common priorities, but the most important is to ensure the recovery of the purchasing power of the more than 140,000 workers in the sector, about 83,000 in banking and about 59,000 in the old savings banks.

To this end, the banking unions are asking for a salary increase of between 17 and 23% in three years, universally and without compensation, absorption or similar mechanisms, which neutralize the increases agreed in the agreement and include them in bonuses and bonuses.

They also ask for the aforementioned maximum limit of 1% on the interest charged to employees when they request a loan from the entity, for example a mortgage, something that some entities are already agreeing to individually, such as CaixaBank (1.5% ), according to union sources consulted by EFE.

“The staff needs these measures,” since, if they do not achieve them, many employees will see that their January payroll is lower than that of December, due to the increase in social contributions and the increases in interest on loans.

From another union, they ask the employers to be aware of the “acute deterioration of the work environment” that these workers are experiencing and to understand that if measures are not adopted “urgently”, the stability of the sector could be endangered.

The staff have been acting in a “responsible” manner and have responded “with seriousness and real commitment in situations of serious crisis”, so “after so many years of losses in labor matters” the negotiations must focus on salary recovery, since that the rest of the matters are covered in the union proposals.

These are, specifically, improvements in aspects such as professional career, occupational health, equality and digital rights, the sources explain.

On the table for the old savings banks, the requests are very similar, a salary increase of between 17% and 23% for the three years of validity of the agreement and a 1% cap on the interest rates on the loans of the employees until October 1, 2024 and improving the work environment through hiring policies or the protection of mental health.