The Association of Bank Employees of Uruguay (AEBU) mobilized this afternoon through the center of Montevideoin the context of the conflict that The official banks maintain with the Executive Power in rejection of the salary adjustment ordered by the Executive Power for 2022, and the lack of progress in other claims.
This Monday there is a 24-hour strike in agencies and branches of the Banco República (BROU), and from 12 noon to 7 pm in the rest of the official banks.
Meanwhile, for Tuesday a 24-hour strike is planned at the Securities Clearing House starting at 10 p.m. The clearing process has been fully digitized since 2014, so all checks are cleared electronically through images, without the need for the documents to be physically sent.
as he knew The Observeruntil this noon the operation was carried out normally, but it is not ruled out that some difficulties may arise in the coming hours. One possibility is that as a result of the union measure, the information that must be sent from Banco República for the compensation process is not sent or is sent late, although there are also contingency plans in the institutions. The other point that could have difficulty is the Central Bank (BCU), where the compensation accounts are.
The leader of AEBU, Lorena Lavecchia, said Monday in statements to Telemundo that “neither the Office of Planning and Budget, nor the Ministry of Economy are willing to sit down to negotiate with the workers.”
L.Carreno
According to Lavecchia, the planned strike for the Securities Clearing House this Tuesday will not “allow the exchange of checks for 72 hours.” “We are talking about about US $ 100 million that would be blocked in the Chamber,” he estimated.
The union awaits a response from the Executive Power in the next few hours to restore the areas of negotiation. Lavecchia affirmed that if before Friday that does not happen it is planned to “increase” the measures in other sectors. On that point, he stated that there are scheduled 72-hour strikes. “We could leave Uruguay without a financial system for more than 10 days,” emphasized.
The union also decided to hold a march to Punta del Este next Friday, March 25.
A central point of difference between the union and the Executive Power lies in the salary adjustment ordered by the government for official banks in 2022. This adjustment consists of an increase of 5.8%, tied to projected inflation. The formula is complemented with corrections for 2023 and 2024 corresponding to the difference between the projected inflation and the actual inflation.
AEBU maintains that there is a salary loss of approximately 3% generated in 2021, and the government says that it cannot compensate it immediately. In addition, it is considered that the proposal of a 5.8% adjustment in force since January implies a salary drop that would be below the adjustment offered to the other state unions. These would have a 1.2% recovery of the loss suffered in January 2021, and would arrive on this basis at an adjustment of 7% in 2022. Other points of the union platform include the entry of personnel and that the National Housing Agency incorporated into the collective agreement of the sector.
