Bank unions have signed the first sectoral collective agreement with employers, which they will extend to the entire market, not just to the signatory banks. Increases the minimum wage and provisions for severance pay. UPDATE: CPBR announcement

A minimum salary of 4,100 lei gross, starting from June 2024, and 4,500 lei gross, from June 2025, as well as up to 6 basic gross salaries, depending on seniority, upon dismissal, are among the rights obtained by employees in the field at negotiations.

UPDATE 15.10: The Romanian Bank Patronage Council (CPBR) announces the signing of the new Collective Agreement with the two representative trade union federations in the market, noting that it has a duration of two years and is the first such agreement signed in the context created by the new Social Dialogue Law, occurring before the expiry, on May 1st, of the old contract, in order to ensure continuity in the protection of the rights of the employees of the signatory banks. The CPBR states that extending the contract to the entire banking sector is only possible under certain conditions. The full press release of the CPBR, at the end of the article.

“Today, April 24, 2024, the Federation of Insurance and Bank Unions in Romania signed the collective labor agreement at the level of the banking sector, together with the Employers’ Federation of Financial Services in Romania, FinBan. It is the first collective labor agreement at the sector level, concluded after the appearance of Law no. 367/ 2022, regarding the social dialogue”, said Constantin Paraschiv, the president of FSAB, a federation established in 2002, which specifies that its structure includes unions from Alpha Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, UPA Romania, Asirom and Claimexpert.

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To begin with, the collective labor agreement, signed, in fact, with the Council of Banking Patronages in Romania (CPBR) by both FSAB and the other federation, FSIF, to which the BRD and UniCredit unions are affiliated, plus the largest union of BCR, and the insurers’ unions, will produce effects for a limited group of units, namely BCR, BRD, ING, Raiffeisen Bank and UniCredit Bank. However, the FSAB leader points out, in the shortest time the dialogue partners will take legal steps to apply it at the level of the entire activity sector, because the law allows this, with the approval of the Tripartite National Council.

For approval at the level of the entire sector, a unanimous decision of the Tripartite National Council is needed, which includes the Government, five trade union confederations and the two representative employers’ confederations (Concordia and CNPIMMR), and the capacity of smaller financial institutions must also be taken into account or with losses to bear higher wage costs, imposed by the collective agreement signed by unions and employers of which they are not part.

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“In the shortest time, more than 46,000 workers from the more than 30 banks in the activity sector will benefit from the provisions of this contract. We believe that it is a great achievement achieved by us, because, in Romania, there are still banks that pay workers with a salary lower than the minimum wage obtained at the sectoral level, not to mention the fact that they are totally deprived of protection in case of restructuring”, says Paraschiv Constantin, who appreciates the event as a “historic moment for the labor market in the banking sector in Romania”.

Through the collective labor contract, in addition to the other minimum rights, a minimum salary of 4,100 lei gross was obtained, starting with June 2024 and 4,500 lei gross, starting with June 2025.

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At the same time, the contract also provides compensatory wages in case of layoffs, as a result of restructuring, according to seniority in the company, as follows:
– between 1 year and 3 years of service – a basic gross salary;
– between 3 and 5 years of service – 2 basic gross salaries;
– between 5 and 10 years of service – 3 basic gross salaries;
– between 10 and 15 years of experience – 5 gross basic salaries;
– over 15 years of experience – 6 basic gross salaries;

“From the information we have, if this contract will be applied erga omnes, more than 25,000 workers in the banking sector will benefit from these rights automatically, the banks, which now grant rights below those stipulated, being obliged, according to the law, to apply them”, says the FSAB leader.

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Another new element in this collective labor agreement is related to the introduction of a chapter on equal opportunities, non-discrimination and the prohibition of harassment based on Convention no. 190/2019, regarding the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work, ratified by Romania in March this year.

The chapter contains some additional provisions compared to those in the legislation, and here we also considered the protection of trade union leaders who, under the pretext of fulfilling their duties, could be prevented from exercising their trade union powers, says FSAB.

The Romanian Bank Patronage Council (CPBR) sent a statement after signing the new Collective Agreement, reproduced below:

“The Council of Romanian Banking Trustees (CPBR), the representative employers’ organization of the Romanian banking sector and the two representative trade union federations signed today a new Collective Labor Agreement with a duration of two years, the first such contract signed in the context created by the new Law of Social Dialogue.

The importance of today’s signing of the new collective labor agreement lies in the fact that it occurs before the expiration of the old contract on May 1st, thus ensuring continuity in the protection of the rights of the employees of the signatory banks.

The contract, negotiated during the last six weeks and signed today by the CPBR with the Federation of Trade Unions in the Financial Industry (FSIF) and the Federation of Trade Unions in Insurance and Banks (FSAB), will be sent in the coming days to the relevant authorities at the level of the Ministry of Labor and Solidarity Social and will produce effects after its formal registration.

The two representative trade union federations that participated in the negotiations announced before they started as well as at the time of signing that they would demand the extension of this contract to the entire banking sector. This objective can be fulfilled by the approval of the Tripartite National Council for Social Dialogue, chaired by the Prime Minister of Romania and comprising representative trade union and employer confederations, followed by the issuance of a Government Decision.

According to the new law, any of the social dialogue partners involved in collective bargaining at the sector level, in the situation where the number of employees in the member companies of the signatory employers’ organizations is greater than 35% of the total number of employees in the respective sector, may request the extension of the collective labor agreement at the level of all units in the sector.

To begin with, the new collective labor agreement will only be applicable to employees of CPBR member banks, namely Banca Comercială Română (BCR), BRD-Groupe Societe Generale, ING Bank, Raiffeisen Bank and UniCredit Bank, just like the two previous collective agreements negotiated at the sector level but applicable at the unit group level. The five CPBR member banks employ about half of the number of workers in the banking sector in Romania. The trade union federation FSIF has among its members unions at unit level from BCR, BRD-GSG and UniCredit Bank, while the trade union federation FSAB has the Raiffeisen Bank union as a member which is also represented at the employer’s level in CPBR.

This contract provides for increases in the minimum gross salary above the national level, as well as the granting of compensatory payments, but also new provisions regarding equal opportunities and the prohibition of harassment. The collective labor agreement signed today does not replace the collective agreements signed at the level of banking units, but ensures a minimum set of benefits regarding the protection of employees in several banks. CPBR is the only representative employers’ organization in the private economy sector that has so far signed two other similar labor contracts with the representative trade union federations in the sector.

Law no. 367/2022 on social dialogue established new premises and obligations for social dialogue at the sectoral level. One of its objectives was to encourage the development of the trade union movement in accordance with the recommendations of the International Labor Organization, with the aim of increasing the number of collective labor contracts and implicitly the degree of protection of employees’ rights”.