Profits fuel pension row

BANK of Ireland’s move to scrap its defined benefit pension plan for incoming new workers has led to a major row with the finance workers union IBOA.

The union has called on the bank to abandon its plan to introduce a two-tier pension plan that will worsen the pension entitlements of new bank employees.

The criticism follows the posting of record pre-tax profits by Bank of Ireland yesterday for the year to March 31st, 2006, which saw profits rise by 31% to €1.6 billion.