This Wednesday, August 31, AEBU occupied the Banque Heritage, within the framework of the conflict with Citibank for the dismissal of three workers.
The president of the AEBU Private Financial Sector Council, Juan Fernández, explained that the measure is in defense of jobs.
“Banque Heritage had stated that it could not take on new personnel, however, days later it hired one of the workers fired from Citi who was not affiliated with AEBU. The occupation and the measures will continue until a solution is found, Fernández said.
The workers were evicted after police intervention.
damages
For its part, the Association of Private Banks of Uruguay issued a statement referring to the union measures adopted by AEBU.
“For months the measures have included the non-performance of overtime, transfers, schedule changes or training. To this have been added surprise stoppages and on August 11 the Citi office in Ciudad Vieja was occupied. This week the banking union decided to intensify its fighting measures, affecting companies in the financial sector and related. This Wednesday, AEBU occupied the Banque Heritage”, indicated the Association of Private Banks.
Likewise, they assure that all these organizations have no responsibility in the conflict, and neither do the people and companies that are clients of these institutions. “We are hostages of a situation beyond our decisions.”
“These measures are the banking union’s response to Citi’s decision to sell one of its business units in Uruguay. This sale led the institution to proceed with the dismissal of 29 collaborators who worked in said unit. Citi offered all of them compensation higher than that established by Uruguayan law, which was accepted by 26 of the 29 affected officials. AEBU understood that it was appropriate to involve the entire system in a conflict to force a placement to be sought for the three people who did not accept the incentives”, detailed the Association of Private Banks.
At the same time, he assures that despite always keeping the channels of dialogue open, the union’s proposal was not accepted, “because no financial institution can influence the decisions of another, which is also its competence, and because, furthermore, it is not It is reasonable for a bank to be forced to incorporate into its workforce workers who were revoked by another institution.
“We regret the damage that these union measures adopted by AEBU cause for society as a whole due to the alteration that these extraordinary conditions generate on the functioning of the financial system,” said the Association of Private Banks.
