Germany: Bank employees rally in Berlin as union 'warning strikes' kick off

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Bank employees went on a ‘warning strike’ on Tuesday in Berlin, following the Verdi union’s call to take action as they see no progress in the nationwide collective bargaining process.

Employees from the Berliner Sparkasse, the Landesbank, the Commerzbank, the Deutsche Bank and BKS Bank among others held a rally at Brandenburger Tor supported by Verdi representatives including Verdi union secretary Sebastian Orthmann.

“The employees are calling for a 4.5 percent wage increase and a collective bargaining agreement for the services that they have previously performed in corona times with everything concerning digital and remote work,” said Orthmann at the rally.

Among the union’s demands, which is currently negotiating separately for public and private banks, are better and more flexible working conditions. A major point of the negotiations is the remote work, with Verdi seeking to ensure that employees can work from home up to 60 percent of their working hours.

In speeches, employees accused the banks of having forgotten the effort their staff was putting in during the corona pandemic. “You kept the show running during the corona pandemic. You! You were there for the customer at the locations or on the phone. You helped in financial emergencies,” said bank employee Christina, addressing the rally attendees that were holding signs reading ‘fair sharing of digitalization profits’ and ‘inflation eats my salary’.

The last negotiation talks took place on September 22 and 24 leading to no agreement between the parties.

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Christina, BSK Bank (German): “The banks are bleeding out in regard to staff and employers are doing nothing.”

SOT, Christina, BSK Bank (German): “Now the collectively secured salary prospects are simply to be annulled within a collective bargaining round.”

SOT, Christina, BSK Bank (German): “Dear colleagues, what the employers have probably completely forgotten: you! You kept the show running during the corona pandemic. You! You were there for the customer at the locations or on the phone. Helped in financial emergencies. In the central areas, work was carried out to cope with this unprecedented situation. And to thank you? To thank you they give you a kick in.. well, you know.”

SOT, Sebastian Orthmann, Verdi union secretary (German): “We are here today with the private and the public banks since the employers made no or a very bad offer to both the private and the public banks in the past week. The employees are calling for a 4.5 percent wage increase and a collective bargaining agreement for the services that they have previously performed in corona times with everything concerning digital and remote work.”

#BankStrike #Berlin #Germany #Verdi

Video ID: 20210928-033

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