The trade unions in the banking sector welcomed the measures taken by the government in November 2008 to nationalise the Portuguese Business Bank. However, they called for the protection not only of the customers’ rights but also of the workers’ rights, in particular the preservation of jobs. In January 2009, the trade unions were confronted with the possibility of the dismissal of 250 employees on fixed-term employment contracts.
Bank brought under state control
In November 2008, the Portuguese government announced the nationalisation of the Portuguese Business Bank (Banco Português de Negócios, BPN). The bank has sustained heavy losses partly due to the global financial crisis unveiling since the autumn of 2008 and is suspected of mismanagement, for which it is undergoing an investigation procedure. BPN is now managed by the state-owned banking corporation Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) and all depositors’ money is guaranteed by the state. The Governor of the Central Bank of Portugal (Banco de Portugal), Vitor Constâncio, explained that the central bank’s investigation of BPN had found losses of €700 million, forcing the decision to take the bank under state control.
According to Mr Constâncio, BPN’s difficulties stemmed mainly from financial operations of ‘dubious legality’ and were not directly the result of the global economic crisis. However, he admitted that the international credit crunch had made the problems worse.
Trade union reaction
A total of three main trade unions operate in the financial services and banking sector, all affiliated to the General Workers’ Union (União Geral de Trabalhadores, UGT): the Banking Trade Union of the South and Islands (Sindicato dos Bancários do Sul e Ilhas, SBSI), the Banking Trade Union of the Centre (Sindicato dos Bancários do Centro, SBC) and the Banking Trade Union of the North (Sindicato dos Bancários do Norte, SBN). These trade unions reacted to the announced nationalisation by publishing a joint statement expressing their concern about the bank situation and committing themselves to act in order to preserve the jobs in the bank.
The trade unions welcomed the measures announced by the government; nevertheless, they were concerned that the government did not mention the employees’ situation, focusing exclusively on safeguarding the financial system and the depositors’ money. In addition, the trade unions denounced the inefficiency of banking supervision in Portugal. The President of SBSI, Delmiro Carreira, criticised the supervision, stating that the mismanagement problem could have been detected much earlier. According to Mr Carreira, BPN has about 1,500 employees, and in the geographical area covered by this trade union, 60% to 70% of the bank workers are members of SBSI. This trade union is the largest of the three banking unions.
Job losses
After the nationalisation, in the beginning of January 2009, the new administration of BPN informed SBSI that the fixed-term employment contracts in the bank would not be renewed. Therefore, about 250 jobs are now at stake. On 20 January 2009, SBSI asked the Prime Minister, José Sócrates, to intervene in order to prevent the dismissal of these 250 employees. According to SBSI, this demand relates to the fact that Prime Minister Sócrates promised, at the time of nationalisation, that there would be no redundancies. According to SBSI, the prime minister made this commitment at the Standing Commission for Social Concertation (Comissão Permanente de Concertação Social, CPCS), which was later incorporated into the nationalisation law; the latter mentions that it is the competence of CGD to safeguard the BPN workers’ rights.
Moreover, SBSI and the other trade unions representing the BPN employees have started a process of examination of the employment relationships under the fixed-term employment contracts, as they suspect that some of them do not meet the legal requirements. According to Portuguese law, if workers are hired illegally under fixed-term contracts, those contracts are almost automatically awarded permanent status.
Maria da Paz Campos Lima, Dinâmia