CSTEBA Chile continues to fight against layoffs
01.06.22
On May 27, representatives of the Chilean Banking Confederation, CSTEBA, went to the Association of Banks, ABIF, to deliver a letter regarding the demands of bank workers and the lack of response from the Association. The CSTEBA previously raised concerns over hours, job cuts as well as payments to workers in the sector.
“We return again to ABIF to reiterate the demands we made in the open letter to its president last March,” said Pamela Henriquez, president of CSTEBA. The letter discusses the changes in the sector due to the pandemic and the adjustments the companies made to enhance profitability—and that workers have been harmed as a result.
“We presented ourselves here to deliver an open letter in which we demand to stop the layoffs in the sector, the distribution of 30 per cent of the profits to the workers, together with the reduction of the working day to 40 hours without reduction of the salary,” he concluded.
“It is unacceptable that the banks in Chile do not distribute part of their profits to the workers who generate those profits. We have access to a report that shows the profitability of banks in Latin America is 24 per cent on average on net worth, while in Europe it is 5.9 per cent. In addition to not wanting to distribute part of the profits, they dismiss workers. It is illogical,” said Guillermo Maffeo, regional director of UNI Americas Finance.
“In addition, they could adopt policies that help to combat unemployment in the country, with the reduction of working hours in the manner requested by CTEBA. We hope that the Association of Banks will heed this demand of our colleagues of the Confederation that brings together the financial unions in Chile,” he said.
UNI Americas gives our full support to our comrades of CSTEBA in their just demands for workers in the banking sector.
