German Banks Face Disruption After Talks Collapse

West German banks face disruption from strike ballots and selective strikes after the breakdown of talks on wages and working hours, the German Employees Union, DAG, and the Commerce, Banking and Insurance Union, HBV, said.

But the chairman of the bank employers’ federation, Horst Burgard, told reporters in Frankfurt he hoped the two sides would reach agreement after a pause for thought.

DAG chief negotiator Gerhard Renner said the employers' offer to resume talks was farcical as long as they refused to remove the issue of flexible working hours from the talks.

Both sides agreed there was now little point in top level negotiations similar to those held in the engineering industry which resolved a dispute on working hours.

Renner and HBV chief negotiator Lorenz Schwegler said they were prepared to compromise on the issue of flexible working hours, but this subject should not be included in the wage negotiations for the 380,000 bank employees.

Burgard, also management board member of Deutsche Bank AG, said the employers sought acceptance of more flexible hours on an unchanged 40 hour week in the negotiations.

The employers have unilaterally imposed a 3.6 pct pay rise backdated to March 1, with the collapse of the talks. The HBV is seeking a six pct rise and DAG a 6.5 pct increase.

Schwegler said the unions would react to the collapse of the talks with protest and warning strikes. Union officials would resist overtime and attempts to introduce flexible hours.

Next week the unions will set strike ballots aiming at strikes in sensitive areas such as bank computer and bourse data centres. The unions only account for some 25 pct of bank employees. DAG will seek support from its members in the Bundesbank who are not directly affected by the negotiations.