Union ETYK welcomes Hellenic Bank changes

Bank employees’ union ETYK said it welcomes the recent changes to Hellenic Bank’s management, and congratulated interim CEO Antonis Rouvas on his message – that he will promote changes and handle long-standing issues pending at the bank.

The union said it hoped this meant the bank will finally get back on track, both in terms of its human-centric approach and its profitability.

ETYK also revealed that it had been taken aback by Oliver Gatzke’s resignation from CEO, given that on the morning of the announcement, ETYK’s president had received a letter from Gatzke asking for a meeting to discuss the various pending labour issues, next month.

“Whatever happened to make Mr Oliver resign remains unanswered,” it said in its announcement.

Giving its own assessment of Gatzke’s work at HB, ETYK said both he and his predecessor Bert Pijls failed to leave a positive mark on the bank. “The only reminder of Mr Gatzke will be that during his time, APS and the loans in arrears were sold and all while his behaviour towards staff was always provocative,” it said.

The union said the experiment of bringing people in from abroad has clearly failed, adding that it hoped the bank’s Board of Directors will “take all the above into serious consideration when searching for a new Chief Executive Officer of the Bank”.

Said CEO must have knowledge, experience and be aware of Cyprus’ market conditions, the country’s culture and history, and be respectable, stable and reliable, ETYK continued.

Concluding, the bank employees’ trade union said it will support Antonis Rouvas in his new duties “in good faith”.

“We will try to immediately solve all the pending issues at the Bank, in the best interests of both the shareholders and the employees, but always with respect towards society and the client,” said ETYK.

Finally, it said it hoped this was the last time the Bank had to deal with “such arrogant and abrasive attitudes with a tendency to demean staff”, especially given its long history of respecting its staff.