German unions want deal after bank merger

The two German unions representing bank workers, HBV and DAG, have

called for a new negotiated agreement to cover the merger of the

Deutsche and Dresdner banks, Germany's largest and third largest banks, agreed last month. Together the two banks have 140,000 employees but Rolf Breuer, the head of the Deutsche Bank, which is effect is taking over Dresdner, has said that 16,000 jobs will go worldwide, 14,000 of them in Germany.

Negotiating over planned job losses, including agreeing severance terms, is normally the responsibility of the elected works council, and the works councils at the two banks have already started discussions.

However, the unions are also calling for negotiations on a collective agreement, which could include substantial cuts in working time as an alternative to job losses.

The unions want to become involved because only they can organise

industrial action - the works council is not legally able to do so. As Gerhard Renner of the DAG has pointed out, by becoming involved in negotiations "we create additional pressure on management, because only parties to a collective agreement can take action."