Dialogos+

1. Funded by:
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
INE - OTOE
Labour Institute OTOE
DialogoS+
DialogoS+@ine.otoe
Social Dialogue is considered a driv- The best practices identified can assist in “learning from
ing force for economic and social each other” and facing the new challenges. In half of the
reform, a key to better governance countries examined in the project, social dialogue has been
of the new enlarged European Union indeed used as a driving force for economic and social
and a vital element of the European reform in the banking sector, generating practical solutions
Social Model. that helped in preserving the European Social Model.
The European project DialogoS+
examines the best practices in
social dialogue in the banking sector
of nine member states of the European Union by develop-
ing a comparative discussion and perspective which stimu-
lates ideas, analysis and important conclusions based on
the participative training by the project’s participant part-
ners just before the eruption of the global financial crisis.
This experience becomes even more important under the
new conditions of the current financial and economic crisis
which affects employment and industrial relations in the
banking sectors of every economy and society. On behalf of INE OTOE, we would like to thank all partici-
pant trade unions and their representatives for their active
Evaluation of international experience on social and productive way in shaping the development of the Di-
dialogue in respect with changes ensuing the new
economy in the banking sector and transfer of best alogoS+ project that helps to identify social dialogue best
practices to new member countries practices in the banking sectors at national level and high-
light how they can help us in meeting the new challenges.
The experience of social dialogue for regulating the trans-
formation of banking sector restructuring in nine old and
new EU member states indicates that, although sectoral Stavros Koukos
industrial relations remain mainly national, social dialogue is President ΟΤΟΕ
President ΙΝΕ-ΟΤΟΕ
not only theory or part of a normative approach, but has
provided noticeable ‘best practices’ in the banking sectors
at the national level that evolved till the eruption of the
global financial crisis.
Labour Institute of OTOE

2. DialogoS+
Best Practices for the European Social Dialogue in
The DialogoS+ project aims to promote the role of social The first group of “Best Practices” refers to three “old”
dialogue in the banking sector, strengthen the link between member states namely Denmark, Spain, and Italy. Their
old and new members and make European social dialogue common characteristic is the relatively strong role of col-
a force for innovation and change. DialogoS+ builds on the lective bargaining in shaping effective social dialogue in the
successful implementation of the previous project Dialo- banking sector.
goS by using new tools such as roadmapping and simula-
tion of social dialogue. It elaborates on the communication In Spain we consider as best practice the regulation of
mechanisms of the European banking sector trade unions’ M&As implications through collective agreements that
community in order to facilitate exchanging important ex- produced results embodied in the case of early retirement
periences, creating and diffusing knowledge, as well as iden- law for bank employees made redundant in the banking
tifying and transferring best practices. Given the context of sector restructuring process.
the international crisis in the banking sector, the outcome
of DialogoS+ aims to provide important added value on In Italy we consider as best practice the regulation of bank-
investigating how the crisis may affect employment rela- ing restructuring implications through collective agree-
tions and social dialogue dynamics and analyze what is and ments that were regulated through the innovative and col-
should be the role of employees within this environment. lectively agreed and operated “income support fund”.
In Denmark we consider as best practice the joint regula-
tion of banks and insurance sectors and the strong influ-
ence of the social dialogue in shaping the “flexicurity” solu-
tions in the banking sector.
The second group of national experiences refers to chal-
lenges for social dialogue rather than to “Best Practices”,
in the sense that the pre-existing pathway of developing
social dialogue is challenged. These challenges emerged in
the case of two “old” member states, namely Portugal and
Greece, were their common theme is the emerging chal-
lenge to the sectoral collective bargaining as a means for
By analysing recent developments in ‘national’ banking sec- effective social dialogue.
tor systems from a comparative perspective with regard to
social dialogue practices we have drawn interesting con-
clusions concerning the different degrees and the different
stages of social dialogue in regulating banking sector em-
ployment relations in nine EU member states.
This analysis and comparison of different national systems
in regulating employment and industrial relations in “na-
tional” banking sectors was formed according to contri-
butions made by DialogoS+ participant trade unions. For
analytical purposes, they were classified in four different
groups.

3. INE - OTOE
Labour Institute OTOE
the Banking Sector and New Challenges
The third group of na-
tional experiences re-
fers to best practices
of social dialogue that
emerged in two “new”
member states, namely For more information:
Cyprus and Malta, were
the influence of the na-
tional unions acting in
the banking sector en-
hanced social dialogue
as a means for regulating employment relations and more specifically in deal-
ing with “new comers” in the sector (through Mergers & Acquisitions) by
maintaining union membership and effective role for social dialogue. http://www.otoe.gr/dialogosplus
http://www.ine.otoe.gr
http://ineotoe.wordpress.com
DialogoS+
INE - OTOE
Labour Institute OTOE
(Coordinator)
Partners:
OTOE (Hellenic Federation of Bank
Employee Unions)
FABI (Independent Federation
of Italian Bank Workers)
The fourth group of national experiences refers to challenges faced by de-
Federacion de Servicios
veloping national unions in two “new” member states, namely Bulgaria and
de UGT (FeS-UGT) - Spain
Romania, were their common theme refers to the challenge of building social
dialogue capacity through increasing membership and establishing sectoral Sindicato Dos Bancarios
do Centro Direccao - Portugal
collective agreements.
ETYK (Cyprus Union of Bank Employees)
Malta Union of Bank Employees
FSAB (TUFIB) - Romania
Trade Union of the Bank Employees
Aristoteles Lakkas Dr Christos Ioannou and Workers in UBB - Bulgaria
Managing Director ΙΝΕ-ΟΤΟΕ Scientific Consultant DialogoS+ Finance Sector Union of Denmark
Project Manager DialogoS+
Vocational Training Centre DIASTASI
SEV (Hellenic Federations of Enterprises)
Brunel University - United Kingdom

4. DialogoS+
Roadmapping in DialogoS+
The European project European projects DialogoS and Communicate. The classifi-
DialogoS+ aims in stra- cation of the roadmapping thematic areas and their content
tegically promoting the was finalised during the project’s final conference in Cyprus.
European Social Dia-
logue in the banking sec- Given the environment of the international financial crisis
tor and transform it into and the challenged it generates for trade union organisa-
a force of innovation tions, the application of roadmapping in DialogoS+ was
and change. In order to a first class opportunity for investigating into the field and
achieve this objective, it discussing on coordinated future actions. In an attempt to
builds upon the knowl- critically evaluate this application, it should be emphasized
edge from previous rel- that it constituted an effort of innovation and modernisa-
evant projects and attempts to exploit new tools and ideas tion of traditional decision-making structures, an attempt to
such as roadmapping. strengthen international collaboration and exploit the estab-
lished scientific and practical roadmapping background.
A roadmap is a collaborative strategic decision-making tool
mainly used in technology, science and industry with the pur-
pose of deliberating, modelling and disseminating strategic
decisions. Its main concept includes a forecasting aspect and
is based on analyzing the gaps between desired and expect-
ed future situations with the purpose of proposing actions
to bridge them, a process usually known as gap analysis.
In parallel, the application of roadmapping in collaborative
communities aims at reaching consensus over important
decisions, shaping and deliberating policy as a mean of ex-
ploiting and empowering social mechanisms, mutual learn-
ing, exchanging experiences and practices and transforming Apart from the actual conclusions in important topics con-
them into useful knowledge. A well known example on the cerning the European baking sector such as collective bar-
use of the roadmapping concept is the Roadmap to Peace gaining, working conditions and trade union densities, other
in the Region of Middle East. significant issues emerged during the project such as the
strategic use of new interactive web technologies in sup-
Under the scope of DialogoS+, roadmapping was imple- porting industrial actions, as well as the perspectives for con-
mented through various stages and associated data collec- vergence in the European Social Dialogue.
tion techniques which sourced from the different activities
of the project. These data included the presentations on We would like to thank all projects partners for their fruitful
the national state-of-the-art on social dialogue from proj- collaboration and INE OTOE in particular for the success-
ect partners, the best practices report, the proceedings from ful coordination of the project. Additionally, we would like
the international workshops and meetings, as well as the to thank ETYK for their memorable hospitality during the
results from the transnational online questionnaire filled by project’s final conference in Cyprus.
employees.
Dr Lampros Stergioulas Panagiotis Panagiotopoulos
Additionally, the relevant international literature on road- Αssociate Professor PhD Researcher
mapping and on European Social Dialogue was examined Brunel University
and taken into account, as well as the results of the previous London, United Kingdom
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