Decentralised pay bargaining in banking as unions call strike

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In early 2002, company-level pay bargaining has been occurring in French banks, with varying results. The trade unions in the banking sector have been attempting to mobilise employees, calling a strike and other action with mixed success from bank to bank. As well as pay, employment and working conditions, the unions are seeking improvements in the safety of bank employees.

A strike called on 2 January 2002 by the five trade union federations with representative status in the banking sector was the first industrial action in the industry following the decentralisation of pay bargaining from sector to company level, as provided for in the new collective agreement signed in January 2000 (FR0001133F). The aim of the strike was to highlight the issues of pay, staff safety, employment levels and working conditions. The relevant unions are: the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT); the French Christian Workers' Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC); the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT); the General Confederation of Labour-Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail-Force ouvrière, CGT-FO); and the National Banking Union (Syndicat national des banques, SNB) affiliated to the French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff-General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Confédération française de l'encadrement-Confédération générale des cadres, CFE-CGC).

This strike call involved the 410,000 employees working in mutual banks and in banks affiliated to the Association of French Banks (Association française des banques, AFB). In addition, the union coordinating body at the Caisse d'Epargne called the savings bank's 42,500 employees out on strike, as did trade unions at Post Office (La Poste), which provides banking services.

However, the strike call was not a resounding success, except at Crédit Lyonnais, Société Générale and Crédit du Nord, where pay negotiations were underway. The first two banks experienced a 20% branch closure rate. The Caisse d'Epargne posted a high strike turn-out, locally up to 70% (especially in the South-East), and in some areas industrial action continued for several days in a row. The fact that conciliation over a pay deal took place at BNP Paribas a few days before the strike resulted in a lower strike turn-out (5% of employees). The situation was similar at CIC (12%) and at Crédit Agricole (1.2%).

A subsequent day of action and protest on the 17 January 2002, focusing on the same demands (wages, safety, staffing levels and working conditions) failed to garner much support (eg 5% of branches closed at Crédit Lyonnais). This day of action was designed as a pressure tactic in the lead-up to a meeting between the trade unions and AFB over demands by CFDT, CFTC and CGT-FO for a revision of the pay aspects of the current sectoral agreement.

The differing strike turn-out figures demonstrate the varying levels of success in decentralised pay bargaining from one institution to another. For example:

• the management of Crédit du Nord took the unilateral decision to increase wages by 1% on 1 April 2002, combined with two bonus payments of EUR 240 and EUR 460 respectively;

• Société Générale has reached an agreement with SNB, CFTC and CGT-FO, which provides for a 0.7% wage rise and a bonus of EUR 600;

• BNP Paribas signed an agreement with SNB and CFDT prior to the 2 January strike action, providing for a 0.9% wage increase and a minimum bonus of EUR 700;

• Crédit Commercial de France has reached a deal with SNB, CFTC and CGT providing for wage increases of between 1% and 0.5% for the highest and lowest pay brackets respectively, with a minimum raise of EUR 400 per year for technicians and EUR 560 for management staff, plus a bonus of between EUR 400 and EUR 460; and

• to date, trade unions and management have failed to reach an agreement at Crédit Lyonnais, where talks are turning out to be difficult.

The next step is the forthcoming meeting with AFB, at which the unions hope to address the three key issues of wages, working conditions and security. For employers, security is perceived as a particularly thorny issue, since the management of some banks are concerned that employees could be prompted to take immediate major industrial action should there be a repeat performance of a major incident such as a fatal hold-up, like the one that occurred in summer 2001 at a branch of Caisse d'Epargne. Brink's security guards in the Côte d'Azur area have refused to stock Caisse d'Epargne ATM machines on the grounds that the bank has failed to take heed of their security concerns.