The Malta Union of Bank Employees (MUBE) said this evening that the strike at HSBC has been called off after OPM-mediated talks.

"MUBE confirms that the Office of the Prime Minister has this evening intervened to try and solve the current impasse between the MUBE and the HSBC.

Through the OPM’s mediation, with effect from midnight, the following agreement has just been reached on the following conditions:

All parties accept to SUSPEND their RESPECTIVE directives

 - Immediately continue negotiations as from tomorrow early morning

 - HSBC to present concrete proposals

 - CEO to attend meeting

Whilst MUBE thanks Mr. Mario Cutajar obo the OPM for his intervention, the Union will make all the effort to keep you updated with developments.MUBE will immediately advise members of the outcome and does not exclude any further action if Bank fails to provide concrete proposals.

We thank all members and non-members together with the GWU for their full support and solidarity shown throughout these difficult times."

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Earlier, the MUBE said the strike would be extended to Thursday unless the bank comes up with concrete counter-proposals and accepts the dialogue invitation.

HSBC staff has been on strike for the last three working days – Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday. MUBE President William Portelli said the situation at present was a complete stalemate, with the bank refusing to sit around the discussion table.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Mr Portelli said the union had always enjoyed a good relationship with the bank. Trouble arose when HSBC decided to refuse a collective agreement that was in its final stages back in August 2014. The bank, he said, had unilaterally decided to refuse the package mainly from the financial aspect.

Mr Portelli said HSBC had adopted a trend that was a threat to collective bargaining when it had proposed a pay rise in the middle of the negotiations, as if there was no ongoing process. He described dialogue as being one-sided and said the bank had chosen to send foreigners to Malta to do its bidding. This, he said, could lead to an ugly precedent if it is copied by other companies in Malta.

He also argued that this was a different scenario than usual because the bank was more interested in the spat it has with the union rather than in resolving the issue, thus having all its customer services restored.

The MUBE President said the union felt sorry for the bank’s clients but insisted that HSBC employees also had a right to fight for better conditions and pay. The decision to step up the industrial action into a full-blown strike was taken by an almost unanimous decision, and this showed that the bank staff’s demands were justified. The MUBE represents around 95% of the bank’s 1,100-strong workforce.

Apart from the collective agreement there are other issues, like unacknowledged excessive overtime, said Mr Portelli, who claimed that some bank managers worked up to 8 or 9 hours of overtime a week, interfering with their work-life balance.  

Josef Figallo, the spokesman of MUBE’s group committee, said the bank wanted the union to suspend all directives before any discussions would take place. The union is insisting, however, that it will not discuss anything until the bank comes up with its counter-proposals.

The MUBE, he said, had given the bank time and only resorted to industrial action seven months before talks on the collective agreement stalled. A few days ago the union made the “fair proposal” for both sides to revert back to the August 2014 positions and use that as a starting point. “It would have been a win-win situation because we were both happy with the way things were back then. However the bank has not accepted this proposal.”

Charles Galea, Secretary of the General Workers Union’s Professionals, Finance and Services Section, appealed to the public to understand that HSBC employees could not just give up and quit because they were fighting for their future. The GWU, which represents a small number of bank employees, is taking part in the discussions in solidarity with the MUBE, he said.

Mr Galea said the unions never intended to order a full strike but were left with no choice after the management threatened the workers with lock-out. Asked if the union will persist with the strike, Mr Portelli said the union members had voted to extend the strike throughout the week if need be, but decisions were being taken on a day-to-day basis. “Things could change if there are any developments but, for the time being the situation is a complete stalemate.” He said he did not exclude seeing signs of support from other unions and said there could be developments after the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday offered to mediate.

Mr Portelli said HSBC is known to be an aggressively expansionist bank but would not be surprised if it announced some form of downsizing in the near future. He noted, however, that HSBC has insisted repeatedly that it is here to stay and intends to grow further. In other countries, HSBC had had its way but MUBE is not willing to give up the fight. 

HSBC Reacts

In comments to this newsroom, an HSBC Spokesperson said that “the bank regrets the unions' directives for strike action that has taken place over the last three working days, and in particular regrets the negative effect of the industrial action on our customers.

Contingency arrangements have been put in place to limit customer impact. The Bank would like to remind its customers that its ATM service remains available 24/7 in all branches and offsite locations.

Services such as loans, pensioners' cheques and emergency cash withdrawals via tellers within branches are being provided in the following 10 branches: Birzebbugia, Paola, San Gwann, Sliema, Sliema International Centre, St Paul's Bay, Swieqi, Valletta, Victoria (Gozo) and Zabbar branches as well as in other branches that the Bank has opened during the action.

“The Bank has always remained open to a negotiated solution that is balanced and reasonable and in the best interest of our customers, employees and shareholders. HSBC Malta is willing to continue engaging directly with both unions and remains in regular contact with the Malta Employers' Association.

By way of clarification, while staff who are on strike are not being paid, there is no staff lock-out as it is the unions who have ordered staff to strike and not attend work. As a consequence, there is no obstacle to staff returning normally to their workplace as has been the case over the last several days.

HSBC apologised for any inconveniences caused as a result of the Industrial Action and we will endeavour to minimise such inconveniences. Ongoing developments will be made public on the bank’s official website."