Bank workers in Portugal and Spain call for demonstrations for decent pay rises

Banking unions linked to the UGT protest this Thursday in front of the Portuguese Banking Association in Lisbon, demanding a decent wage increase, in a coordinated action with the Spanish unions that demonstrated this morning in Madrid.

The Northern Bankers’ Union has called on its members to “show their outrage” at the banks’ proposals and demand a “fair and decent” pay rise.

Mais Sindicato president António Fonseca told Lusa that it was time to “shout” gratitude to bank employees and that they had decided to harmonize positions between unions in both countries, since bank employees are in similar situations and many Portuguese banks are dominated by Spanish capital.

The union leader believes that banks have double standards because salary negotiations have always been based on the previous year’s inflation, but lately they want them to be based on the current year’s inflation because it is more profitable for them.

In 2023, the salary increase was 4.5% against inflation of 7.8% in 2022, and in 2024 they are offering 2% against inflation of 4.3% in 2023, he said.

Unions linked to the UGT (SBN, SBC and Mais Sindicato), which are demanding a 6% increase, called the proposal from the banks, signatories to the industry’s Collective Labor Agreement, “pathetic and inappropriate.” The state-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos (which has its own bargaining table) is offering 3%, while the CGD Group Workers’ Union (STEC) is demanding 7%.

In addition to the cost of living, unions cited bank profits in their wage demands. Banks kept expectations low, informally acknowledging that the figure could be higher than 2%, but not significantly (last year banks offered 4%, but ended up at 4.5%).

In Portugal, of the five large banks, Santander Totta, Novo Banco and BPI have already presented accounts (profit growth to 1.030 million euros, 743 million euros and 524 million euros, respectively). CGD and BCP have not yet reported, but figures through September (CGD made a profit of €987 million and BCP made a profit of €651 million) suggest that 2023 will be a year of historic profits since at least 2007.

This Monday, when asked about wage increases, the BPI president said he appreciates the role of unions, but does not engage in public discourse that he considers aggressive.

“I don’t agree that this is part of the pressure. I have a different logic of society, that the society of class struggle ended there, we must build a different society, with a different type of dialogue, with less demonization from the bankers, this kind of sensitivity is not there,” said João Pedro Oliveira e Costa.

Spain recorded record profits in 2023. According to Efe, the joint profit of Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell and Bankinter amounted to 26 billion euros.

Wage negotiations in Spain have been ongoing for many years, with banks offering a 7% wage increase throughout the 2024-2026 collective agreement and workers asking for a minimum of 17%.

There are 140 thousand bank employees in Spain, and about 40 thousand in Portugal.

In previous years, during a major restructuring of Portuguese banks, thousands of workers left. Banks have continued to cut staff in recent years, albeit less significantly, with some institutions retaining negotiated severance and early retirement processes.

In Portugal, a protest will take place on Thursday at 14:00 in front of the headquarters of the Portuguese Banking Association in Lisbon. In Spain, the main demonstration will take place in Madrid in the morning, called by the trade union confederations Comisiones Obreras, UGT and FINE.