BANK EMPLOYEES quit work at noon yesterday so they could take part in a demonstration, organised by their union ETYK which demands that bank provident funds were fully protected and bank jobs secured. The unions have not lost their arrogance, despite the collapse of the economy. Unions of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus have demanded that their provident fund deposits in Laiki, worth €27 million and those in the Bank of Cyprus (€15 million) were saved by the state.
As we had warned last week, the government was making a big mistake in saving some deposits in Laiki – universities, schools and the Laiki provident fund – because it set a precedent and hundreds of equally ‘deserving’ account holders would, justifiably, demand special treatment. Why was it acceptable to save the provident fund of Laiki employees from Laiki and not the EAC’s? And did the Larnaca Bishopric not have a right to demand an exemption of the deposit of a fund for orphans?
Once a bank is resolved, there is no justice or fairness for depositors, but the state made a big mistake in exempting some accounts. Why should Laiki employees’ provident funds be saved, when everyone else who had deposits in Laiki will lose their money? Of course, after this victory ETYK has upped its demands, now seeking that their members’ provident fund at the Bank of Cyprus is not subject to the haircut that all other deposits would suffer.
It was granted one exemption by the government, now it is demanding another and we would not be surprised if the government did not oblige again, imposing bigger losses on the other Bank of Cyprus depositors to satisfy ETYK, so its members would lose nothing of the obscenely high retirement gratuity (in the region of €500,000) they receive and 90 per cent of which is contributed by the bank. Even if they received half, they should be grateful as the rest would go back to the bank. Of course, no politician would have the guts to stand up and say this; on the contrary, they are all demanding the provident funds are saved, regardless of what this means.
And once the provident funds are safeguarded ETYK will push for the other demand it was making at yesterday’s demonstration to be satisfied – no job losses. The Bank of Cyprus which has been forced to take on all Laiki’s staff could be pressured by the politicians to keep everyone on the payroll. The two biggest banks may have collapsed but the bank employees union is still calling the shots.
