“Ready to strike by the end of the year” – Corriere.it

Troubled waters in BNL. Unions have announced mobilization for the company and 11,840 employees are preparing to strike before the end of the year. Managing Director Elena Guetini announces that BNL is ready for the digital leap, so what is it doing? Sells the entire IT department. “It seems to be a real contradiction to us,” says Mauro Morelli, Fabi’s national secretary. The bank reports “excellent results on the balance sheet, even better than those of the five largest Italian groups”. But if not back down and Withdraws its intention to sell its IT business unit, in addition to the entire back office, which will be divided into 7 small branches, the consequences will be “extremely serious”, the Federation fears. “This operation could jeopardize the employment stability of the entire group and will create a dangerous precedent for the entire sector,” Morelli deplored.

Altogether, the sale includes 836 workers, of whom 566 are back-office employees. The Romanian Institute run by the French group Bnp Paribas started on Friday Outsourcing procedures also IT branch (270 people), with a letter to the trade unions and for information to the ABI, the Italian Banks Association. The document was signed by Elena Guetini and Andrea Valini, CEO of Capgemini Finance Tech Services Srl, the company that will acquire the digital division, and change its name in the coming months.

After BNL workers gathered at the rally, in mixed mode, both in attendance and remotely, the union sent on Tuesday A letter to the company and the ABI to request a settlement, According to procedures laid down by the credit sector, a meeting could be held as early as next week, even if the situations seem irreconcilable on paper.

“It is unacceptable that a group has the ambition to become the third largest bank in Italy in terms of profitability.”As CEO Guetini says, he’s then asking to fire about 900 workers, roughly a tenth of its workforce. Iterations and outsourcing have always been done in times of need. But BNL is not Carige, Venetian Banks, or MPS. If you want to focus on digital and innovation, you need to make huge investments, which Bnl obviously doesn’t want to make, because they are too expensive. So it is cheaper to sell the business unit and then buy digital services from the marketplace,” says the union.

The company officially prefers not to comment or provide further details in light of the ongoing negotiations. But Goitini in an interview with Courier service It was clear: «When scale is needed, for example, in the field of information technology, we want to develop partnerships, accelerate people, and at the same time strengthen them. Keeping pace with our digital and human capital. As if to say: it is better to outsource activities, turning them into a major player in the sector, because staying on the technological frontier requires huge resources. In return, the respective employees ensure that the credit agreement and acquired rights are maintained.

But union is not enough. And also because he fears the gradual dismantling of the bank and the loss of its identity. Already in early 2021 40% of Bnl Finance specializing in payroll-secured loans were sold to Poste ItalianeWhile the closing of the operation announced in June is expected by the end of the year 80% of Axepta, a small payments company, will be sold to Worldline, which will see a further 110 employees exit.

Now it is up to the back office and IT. The guarantees offered by the company do not satisfy the trade unions. “These outsourced workers keep the same credit agreement, so they cost about 30% more than the trade agreement Cap Gemini employees usually have. The risk, they argue, is that it becomes an Indian protectorate.

The staff are also worried. The workers in Naples are the most nervouswho, after attending shareholders’ meetings on Monday, called “to move forward as soon as possible, in the same month of December, to call one or more strikes to demonstrate against this absurd company policy.”