UBS criticised by bank workers’ group

The Swiss Association of Bank Employees has criticised UBS for the bank's attitude towards its job-saving suggestions.

It said that it had hoped that the new management at Switzerland’s biggest bank “would have the courage to risk a new staff model and play a pioneering role”.

This, the association admitted in a statement on Monday, was not to be, with Denise Chervet, the group’s secretary, describing May’s consultation process as a “farce”.

For its part, UBS said the association’s suggestions to avoid redundancies – which included reducing the number of hours worked a week from 42 to 40 – were “impracticable”.

The bank said it would look into reduced working hours for the recruitment section, but Chervet said this applied to only 40 people.

UBS said the already implemented flexible work model, which includes part-time work, unpaid holiday and job sharing, remains the best method of limiting job losses.

UBS is rebuilding its brand after larges losses in risky investments forced it to write down the value of assets by more than $50 billion (SFr57.35 billion). The UBS group made a record annual loss of SFr20 billion in 2008.

In April UBS announced that it was cutting 8,700 staff by 2010, with 2,500 jobs going in Switzerland.

swissinfo.ch with agencies