Negotiations for the renewal of the collective agreement in the banking sector remain at a complete standstill after nearly 30 months of discussions.

The agreement expired on December 31, 2022, and since then no progress has been achieved. Neither direct talks nor mediated efforts under Andis Apostolou, Director of the Labor Relations Department of the Ministry of Labor, managed to bring even minimal convergence between the two sides.

Their positions remain diametrically opposed, leading the mediator to consider declaring an impasse.

According to Brief, the Labor Relations Department made another mediation attempt yesterday, but differences remained unresolved.
It was suggested that the Ministry of Labor itself may soon need to step in.

However, union sources believe that Minister Yannis Panayiotou is unlikely to assume a mediating role in the banking dispute at this stage, as he is already engaged in resolving the broader issue of the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA).

As is its longstanding practice, ETYK is expected to wait for the ministry’s next steps and the outcome of negotiations on COLA before deciding its moves.

Despite the pending renewal of their collective agreement, bank employees continue to receive their salaries, annual increments, COLA, and allowances. Employers remain contractually obliged to apply the terms of the expired agreement until a new one is signed.

One of ETYK’s core demands in the negotiations is the payment of COLA at 100%, though the union did not join the broader labor front in the September 11 strike in defense of the allowance. ETYK also refrained from issuing any statement of solidarity with workers who participated in that strike.

In the banking sector, average salaries remain slightly higher than those in the public and semi-public sectors.

ETYK, in a circular issued last August, accused the banks of causing the delay in renewing the agreement, stating:
“Due to poor communication, reaching an agreement was not possible. Therefore, a solution will be sought through another process.”
However, it did not clarify what this “new process” might entail.

The cost of ETYK’s demands—including full COLA, annual horizontal salary increases, and other benefits—exceeds 20% for the banks.

ETYK continues to insist on its pioneering demand for the implementation of a four-day workweek. The union clarifies that banks would still operate the same days and hours for the public, while employees would rotate schedules.

Additionally, ETYK demands the reversal of salary and benefit cuts imposed during the 2013 banking crisis and annual salary increases for all years covered by the new agreement.

Banks, however, firmly reject the proposal for a four-day workweek and show no willingness to accept economic demands that would significantly and continuously increase labor costs.