Bank employees were going on a 24-hour strike across the country demanding a better salary offer in the sector and rejecting the government’s position that collective bargaining negotiations should respond to the current deceleration in inflation rates.
There will be no customer service in backs although electronic clearing operations will work.
Secretary General of the Banking Association Sergio Palazzo said today the Labour Ministry was not “interested” in the conflict since a meeting has been scheduled only for Tuesday next week.
Ratifying workers’ demands for a 30-percent salary rise, Palazzo said Economy Minister Axel Kicillof had said he expected salary talks to be around “20-22 percent.”
“I have serious doubts over the roof of 26 percent they are talking about. We were told about negotiations going around 20-22 percent. It was an informal chat we had in January. He (Axel Kicillof) told us that.”
The Banking Association launched the strike although the office conducted by Labour Minister on Monday called for a mandatory conciliation in the wage dispute, a measure that forces workers to lift the protest action.
Palazzo, however, said the union receive no communication at its headquarters showing no “reliable signature” that ordered the call off the walkout.
“We consider it invalid because a mandatory conciliation is to take the situation back to times before the conflict; 132 days have passed since last year’s agreement expired and there is no (salary) proposal,” he affirmed rejecting any sanction possibility.
“When companies fail to abide (by the law) there is no reprisal.”
Source: Buenos Aires Herald