A new round of negotiations between bank employees and the government is to start following widespread dissatisfaction among workers at the result of talks initiated by the Central Bank of Egypt to stem protests that erupted after the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak.
Dissatisfaction prevails at banks in which Ahram Online managed to interview employees.
In both Bank Misr and the National Bank of Egypt -- the biggest in the country -- earlier negotiations led to small financial concessions and promises of partial reform to salaries and promotion procedures.
The main demand of employees from the two banks, however, was the resignation, or at least demotion, of the Chairman's advisors. Many of them, according to employees, are suspected of corruption, inefficiency and nepotism.“Some of the advisors are completely unqualified; one has a degree in physical education, other in engineering and he hired other engineer friends,” complained an employee of Bank Misr.
The high salaries of some advisors have also been criticised, with some denounced on placards that employees wielded during protests in February. Employees assure that monthly wages of them of those advisors reaches a 6 digit figure.
At Bank Misr, employees rejected the first committee they elected themselves to negotiate on their behalf with the administration and are going to select one or two people to speak on their behalf with prime minister Essam Sharaf in a meeting next week.
At the National Bank, employees haven't decided their next step. They were promised that some demands like promotions and the revision of titles and job descriptions would take place before 15 April.
“Maybe we should negotiate directly with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces or with the Prime Minister. We can accept not getting all our demands for the moment so as not to hurt the economy, but if they don’t respect their promises we will react,” says an employee of the National Bank who feels that what was given and promised is not enough.
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