ELENA CHERUBINI / Fisac-Cgil Secretary in Intesa Sanpaolo Group 

(in charge of the transnational dimension and issues)

Good evening everyone and thank you for inviting me to the plenary conference of this European project which, in spite of all the current problems, seems to be going well.

In this project I really appreciated the possibility of listening to and spreading the voice of the men and women workers who had the opportunity to participate directly and who are directly involved in technological change – not only in digitalization, but also in the fast and continuous change and adaptation that have concerned many colleagues because of the health emergency.

I have been asked to speak about the following topics: an overview of the situation at the national level and one at the transnational level, in terms of prospects and current bargaining. 

As far as the transnational dimension of the Intesa Sanpaolo group is concerned, after the acquisition of another important national group such as UBI, the bank ranks second in the Eurozone after BNP Paribas in terms of capitalization, and among the top banks in the wider European region.

So, you can see how important it would be to inform employees across the organization about what is happening, given that the bank definitely has a supranational organization.

Today’s figures, which have not changed since 30 September, show that the group has a strong transnational footprint in Eastern Europe and the rest of the world with 1,000 branches, over 7 million customers, and banks that are well rooted in their respective geographical areas. I would like to mention some of them, even though I may be pronouncing them wrong, as a sign of recognition of the colleagues who work there: Intesa Sanpaolo Albania, Intesa Sanpaolo Bosnia-Herzegovina, Privredna Banka Zagreb in Croatia, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank România, Banca Intesa Beograd in Serbia, VUB Bank in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank in Slovenia, CIB Bank in Hungary, Eximbank in Moldova, Pravex Bank in Ukraine, AlexBank in Egypt and Bank of Qingdao in China.

As you can see, most of the countries I have mentioned are European, but as Mario clearly stated – and I will not go back over it – unfortunately it has not yet been possible even to start a dialogue on the potential establishment of a European Works Council. So, I am not in a position to provide any information on what happens outside of Italy, on the health and safety conditions of people who do not work in Italy, but who are people like us: they share with us the same needs, the same claims, the same work procedures, the same rules. The same European directives and regulations also apply to them, like the MiFID, privacy, antitrust and supervision regulations, or the non-performing loans regulations we are all familiar with. And these employees are, no doubt, all facing huge changes.

We  just heard, a few days ago, that CIB Bank, a subsidiary of Intesa Sanpaolo in Hungary, has launched a rather peculiar online mortgage application process. First of all, they are getting about 300 submissions per month and this means that there was a customers’ need, but I do not know how this is being managed and what kind of workload this is implying. In addition, a new “video banker” professional profile was created for mortgage specialists who interact with customers by video after their mortgage application has passed the first online submission stage.

Finally, the whole procedure – and I believe this is possible thanks to Hungarian law – can be concluded with a voice signature. So, you can see how the innovation processes are all heading towards the same target: massive digitalization.

This information is circulating internally in the bank, but it is not specifically addressed to the unions. This is unbelievable in a banking group that has very high-level industrial relations and a type of bargaining that I would define as continuous, since so many agreements are being signed: on average not a month goes by without an agreement; they are actually even more frequent.

Given that our sector has an international and European dimension, having an exchange of information would be fundamental. As we all agreed during the last session in October, the pandemic made us realize how important it would be to know how my own company, the company I am working for, is applying health protection rules elsewhere. Are these rules the same? Are they different? Are they better? So as to extend good practices from one country to another through local agreements.

On my side, I can only say that we will keep committing ourselves, with the support of the Trade Union Alliance and, above all of UNI Finance, to initiating talks to establish a European Works Council at Intesa Sanpaolo. I must say that this would shine a light, not so much on the unions, but on the people, on the colleagues who are fully involved in achieving the group’s business objectives in other countries.

It is estimated that one fifth of net revenues is generated abroad, and these are the figures that make the group one of the leading banks in Europe. To come back to the national situation, with the acquisition of the UBI group in 2020, Intesa Sanpaolo has strengthened its position in Italy as the leading bank in terms of capitalisation – with 500 billion lending, representing one third of Italy’s GDP –  and as the main holder of government bonds in our country. This bank seems to be becoming Italy’s bank.

Moreover, as stated by its CEO a few days ago at a FISAC event, this is a bank that is planning to extend an amount of credit equal to the funds that will be allocated to Italy through the Next Generation EU programme. We are talking about 200 billion Euro to support companies investing in innovation and in the green economy. This is an important decision that shows the company’s commitment, but also the skills, competences and commitment of its employees, who will have to work hard on this front too, and for whom we are asking for recognition.

Now, let us consider the people working in the group. After the acquisition of UBI, and the sale of  a number of branches to Banca Popolare Emilia Romagna to comply with anti-trust regulations, 5,000 people left the group for another bank. So, we acquired UBI, but 5,000 employees were moved to another bank, and another 7,500 or so left through the early retirement agreement I described in the October session. In 3 years’ time this group will have about 70,000 employees, also taking into account that the hiring/shedding ratio will be 1:2, one worker hired for every two workers leaving the company.

This is an aspect that I would like to emphasize because we see it as a success. In October, I spoke of our commitment, or rather, of a company that had committed itself to hiring 2,500 people, and we were able to increase this number to 3,500 people. Therefore, we have managed to bring in 1,000 more people, and with an initial agreement that was signed at the end of September, which commits the company to focus hiring in the branch networks and in the areas of the country which are most at a disadvantage, in particular Southern Italy.

This is a commitment, however, that we will have to carefully monitor, because it is precisely related to the changes we are experiencing right now and that are being discussed in this project: the process of digitalization, the fragmentation of work, the traditional branch that no longer exists or is no longer the only point of contact with customers, the increase in branch closures – the percentages described by Mr. Megale are striking – the surge in agile work (remote work), which during the pandemic has become the rule rather than the exception, and atypical jobs regulated by the so called “Mixed Contracts” – which we will discuss tomorrow – with workers having a mixed salaried and independent status. 

I do not want this to suggest that it is pointless to increase the number of employees, or that agile working, smart working, remote working do not require that many people. That is not the case and we do not think so, because customers actually need more support and colleagues need more knowledge and expertise to be able to deal with these changes.

Therefore, training must remain the mainstay of the future to manage change:  it must be ongoing for those who have already been working for many years, but also for digital natives, as Pietro Valentini said, since it is understandable that they too may have difficulties in the face of a change that is continuous and always different.

I would like to make one last comment on agile work because it will certainly change the work of the future. We already had a pre-COVID agreement and we will have to regulate agile working in a more serene phase. However, the bank is already planning something, because what we are negotiating at the moment concerns the acquisition of UBI, which will lead to the merger of UBI and Intesa Sanpaolo branches next April. The company has told us that in many places, the branch that is going to incorporate UBI will not necessarily be restructured to increase space. 

The bank in essence does not think that an enlargement is necessary to allow each employee to have their own desk. Therefore, in branches where the workforce is greater than 10, it is possible that not everybody will have a workstation, and if this concerns more than 40 people, a reduction of 25% is envisaged.

In the current situation, with a lot of absences and agile work on a daily basis, this compromise may seem acceptable, but if we think about it, we are actually facing a revolution: a whole world has come to an end. So, we have to prepare to live in a new world, but without losing positive elements such as training and on-site work.

We will also have to deal with the practical consequences of this approach when we bargain for our colleagues, and I do not think this will be easy, especially as this was not even conceivable or imaginable a year ago.

Therefore, managing the impact and repercussions of work changing so quickly requires a specific preparation, also on our side; trade union officers require proper training.

This is yet another reason why an exchange is necessary and useful to make progress at the transnational level. It would be important to learn how other countries are tackling training for change, also for trade unionists, who will have to support people in a process that impacts on the working space (I no longer have my workplace, my desk) and working time, especially for women, as Ana said. Time is the border between private and working life, a border that can be blurred, where it can be difficult to exercise the right to disconnect. In addition to this impact on the space-time dimensions, we will also see impacts on the psychological dimension.

There are studies on agile work that show how the initial resistance to change, that we all experience when usual patterns are disrupted, can create a conflict that must be managed because, unfortunately, it can also turn into an illness. Therefore, to manage change, it will be important to work on individual awareness, so that each employee becomes aware of their rights, of what is changing in order to be able to manage change. This applies both to the union and to the workers.

As we have been saying for a long time, bargaining on agile working will see us committed to demanding financial compensation for expenses, for ergonomic workstations that are not available at home, for meal vouchers, and the right to disconnect. However, all this will not be enough if we do not take action and work with people to help them experience this transition in the best possible way.

I think that the topics of this project, which are change, digitalization, and employee awareness raising and involvement, are key to facing the future with the right tools. 

A great advantage, and starting point, is that we are here to discuss all of this, and we have been doing so for some time. So I think that through UNI Finance it will be possible to keep in touch and maintain a dialogue among the countries where the Intesa Sanpaolo group is present, and this will be a source of strength.