The last time workers had crossed arms in the old Bnl was the 90s, even if today the "enemy" is the French group Bnp Paribas (for 15 years in control of the old Banca Nazionale del Lavoro). "We tell BNL and BNP Paribas that we will not stop because it is unacceptable that a bank that already earns more than the others wants to earn even more and that, to achieve this goal, is ready to let 836 workers leave without any real and effective protection employment". This was stated by the general secretary of First Cisl Riccardo Colombani during the demonstration held on Monday 27 December 2021 in Rome in front of the BNL headquarters. In Naples, on the other hand, the garrison is under the city headquarters of the bank in via Toledo 126.
“They have proposed to introduce exceptions to the law that are unacceptable. We rejected them and we will continue to do so – continued Colombani – They tried to boycott it strike by any means. We are here today and we will continue to mobilize if CEO Goitini and the French shareholder continue with this arrogant attitude”.
“We ask the MEF and all the political forces to take an interest in BNL, going beyond the dogma of corporate autonomy. Bnl wants to transform itself from a traditional bank, from a local bank to a financial boutique. This is why it wants to close 135 branches out of 705 and open consultancy offices entrusted to a thousand bankers in charge of managing the wealthiest customers. The country – concluded Colombani – needs a bank that continues to give credit to families and to companies, which provides services to everyone and not just to a few large customers”.
The strike was officially proclaimed on 15 December by all the trade union organizations in the sector: Fabi, First Cisl, Fisac Cgil, Uilca and Unisin. reorganization plan branded Bnp Paribas which provides for the outsourcing of over 900 IT and back-office employees, out of a total of 11.500 employees distributed between central offices and over 700 agencies scattered throughout the country. Outsourcing involving approximately 8% of the bank's workforce.
In detail, the mobilization concerns the employment impacts and repercussions on the personnel subject to the procedure referred to in the letter from the BNL dated 24 September 2021, the closure of branches and repercussions in terms of functional and geographical mobility, the sale of a controlling stake in strategic product companies such as Axepta, the lack of personnel in the branches and commercial pressures, the model of presence in the territory, the delay in the number of assumptions agreed in the trade union agreements relating to the so-called Quota 100.
In reality, the situation of BNL is part of a much more generalized malaise which has hit the Italian banking sector, the subject of a profound transformation dictated by digitization which, for some, has been summarized in the closure of the supply chains, cuts in personnel and abandonment of the territories.
