The article aims to raise some issues related to the restructuring process in the banking sector and its social implications (employment, skills, training, wage and union's action), in the context of the 1990's. The observations and conclusions presented result from the analysis of a case-study in a Brazilian state bank preparing for privatization, as well as from the use of statistics concerning the sector as a whole. Among the conclusions, it is worth to mention that the gains obtained by the work-force in the process under study should be assessed vis-à-vis the negative effects as physical and mental stress for those who remain employed, as well as the occurrence of high rates of unemployment. The main conclusion, therefore, would be that the skills raising in employment would correspond to a degradation of living conditions in general.
