News

Even before the financial crisis, UNI Europa Finance repeatedly demanded changes in the corporate culture of financial enterprises.



“The Merill Lynch case shows that the finance industry has not drawn the right conclusions from the financial crisis. Putting so much pressure on interns that they dare not sleep reveals a disgraceful image of working conditions in the finance sector”, says UNI Finance Vice-president Dominic Hook of UNITE the union (UK).



UNI Finance is soon to launch results from its global Job Loss Survey which higlights the plight of finance workers. The health problems of finance employees are overwhelming and 4 out of 5 respondents, both in Europe and worldwide, admit to work related health issues. Health problems can be traced back to fear of losing their jobs, stress resulting from pressures to perform, disruption of personal lives, longer hours and even working in their free time.



Hook: “What is urgently needed is a sane and sustainable approach to banking, and especially to investment banking. If we want to avoid crisis scenarios as we had to face them in the past years, we need to work towards responsible banking, where customer protection and employee protection go hand in hand. The death of this young intern should ring alarm bells all over the world.”



Link to UNI's Work-Life Management Fortnight blog: http://blogs.uniglobalunion.org/wlmgt/