Hellenic Bank’s some 2,500 employees expect pay rises at the end of the month, retroactive as well, starting from January 2019.
This follows a unilateral decision by the lender’s management and comes days only before Friday’s 24-hour strike action called by ETYK (Cyprus Bank Employees Union).
Chief Executive Officer Ioannis Matsis who informed staff via the banks’ portal also pointed out that pay rises will be granted based on performance and on relevant earnings in the market.
At the same time, insiders told Phileleftheros that the remuneration plan Hellenic wants to introduce focuses on two major points.
The first concerns the introduction of a minimum wage for some 300 employees, mainly from the collapsed Co-op bank which was absorbed by Hellenic a year ago. In these cases, the monthly salary is between €900 and €1,000 and the plan is for them to rise to €1,300.
The second concerns the salaries of 2,500 employees of which 1,100 are from the Co-op bank. These salaries will increase based on evaluations carried out in 2018. Bank insiders have said that this decision aims at modernising the remuneration system.
Specifically, they said, the aim is to create a fairer and just system based on the performance of each employee and relevant remuneration in the market. Hellenic’s management want to rectify the injustices of the current remuneration system, but stay away from outdated and horizontal evaluation systems, one also said.
However, the new bank salary system also provides for 2% horizontal increases for all staff. Bank executives have been calling on ETYK for months to discuss this new system, but the union has repeatedly refused to come to a dialogue. Instead, ETYK’s leadership has opted to call for a strike that will cause unnecessary inconvenience to customers.
Moreover, Hellenic’s leadership said that total pay rises to be granted will be much higher than those demanded by ETYK and provided by the expired collective agreement.
Read more:
https://in-cyprus.com/pay-rises-of-5-5-over-the-next-four-years-in-cyprus-hotel-industry/
