People of Vicenza, in view of 600 redundancies. The bank ended up under investigation by the judiciary which investigated the top management (former Deputy General Manager Andrea Piazzetta and President Gianni Zonin) for insider trading, now present the bill. Precisely on the day when the board of directors is preparing to approve the new one business plan 2015-2020 for the relaunch of the institute, tensions are growing with the unions that have been summoned by the bank itself.
On the plate there are 550 to 600 redundancies in addition to the closure of 100-150 branches necessary, according to the new management, to put the accounts in order together with a recapitalization of 1,5 billion by the shareholders and entry on the Stock Exchange. The figures are the result of rumors and will be themanaging director Francesco Iorio, to report the essential points of the plan to the trade unions. The final numbers will be known at the end of the board meeting.
But since the early hours of this morning it was understood that the company-union meeting will not be relaxed: "We believe it is unacceptable that the faults of a far from transparent management of the institute are made to pay once again to the employees. We will oppose this savage policy of cutting labor costs in all offices. Sending 600 employees home means eliminating 10% of the bank's current workforce, impoverishing its resources and professionalism”, Giuliano Xausa, national secretary of Fabi, clearly stated.
Even the words of the secretary of FIRST/CISL Giulio Romani: "We will not allow bank workers to pay for other people's mistakes, which have led to the current situation." Secretary Romani clarified that the union will monitor "so that the impact on the employment front is as limited as possible thanks to a close and punctual dialogue with the union". FIRST Cisl, reads a press release, will take charge with force and absolute priority of guaranteeing employment and safeguarding professionalism, avoiding the loss of the heritage of skills of a banking group with historical roots.
According to rumors, however, the bank's plan would also include the reopening of the turnover and the opening of a solidarity fund to mitigate the social cost of cuts by offering incentives for exit. Finally, a second fund could be used for the voluntary reduction of working hours. La Popolare di Vicenza closed the last half-year with losses of over 1 billion. The bank currently employs around 5.500 people and has 650 branches for the public.
