News

A UNI Finance delegation held a series of meetings in Kiev with the Ukrainian trade unions representing workers in the banking sector, including international banks as Unicredit and BNPParibas, as well as the National Bank of Ukraine and the largest Ukrainian bank «Oschadbank».



Major tends in Ukraine

Among the major trends in the banking sector, that have an impact on employment and trade unions, is

· a sharp reduction in investments by Western-European banks in the Ukrainian market, a trend which was dominant during the 2000s,

· as well as structural changes in the banking business, such as the reduction of the retail sector and the growth of the corporate sector.

· Also, union leaders have noted the outsourcing of related functions, such as IT.



As a result of these changes, from 2009 to 2013, the number of bank branches has decreased from 1,091 to 221, while the number of employees from 241,000 to 218,000.



Bank employees joining the unions since 2013

At the same time, the president of the trade union "Zahist Praci" Oleg Vernik said that these trends are contributing to unionization of bank employees. "In the 2000s, the banking sector developed faster than other sectors, salary and social benefits were several times higher than the average at the market. The result was that employees didn't see the need for the union. But today we are seeing the opposite trend: mass layoffs, reduced social benefits, instability and constant change lead people to defend their rights in the trade unions. Previously, among the members of our union there were not bank employees, but since the beginning of 2013, we have created primary unions in the 2 banks. "



Agreement of the basic principles of social dialogue with UkrSibbank (BNP Paribas)

Also, in the course of the mission to Ukraine, with the support of UNI, a meeting of leaders of the newly established primary union in the UkrSibbank (BNP Paribas) and the management of the bank, where the sides was able to agree on the basic principles of social dialogue between the trade union and the company, including the development and changes in the collective agreement.



UNI Finance will monitor for the situation in Ukraine and will continue to work with the trade unions of bank employees in the country.