Labour Court intervenes in bank row

FINANCE union IBOA has welcomed the intervention of the Labour Court in the dispute with Bank of Ireland over the bank’s plans to introduce less favourable pension rights for new staff.

IBOA had already warned it was prepared to take strike action if the bank was not prepared to deal with its concerns over pension entitlements for new staff joining the bank.

IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick said: “IBOA appreciates the urgency and priority that the Labour Court is giving to this issue.”

He said it noted the request to the parties to “desist from any action which could exacerbate the current dispute and to maintain the status quo until the matter has been investigated and the court has issued its recommendation.”

Mr Broderick said that in the light of the Labour Court’s request: “I have called an emergency meeting of our Bank of Ireland Executive Committee to discuss deferring our ballot for industrial action in Bank of Ireland pending the court’s investigation and recommendation.”

That meeting will take place tomorrow and he called on Bank of Ireland to display similar goodwill. He warned that the gesture of goodwill from the IBOA to proceed with arbitration was “conditional on Bank of Ireland also co-operating with the Labour Court’s request and deferring implementation of their proposed new pension proposals, pending the Courts investigation and recommendation”. The move by the Labour Court provided a chance to both sides to address the pensions issue in a meaningful and responsible manner, said Mr Broderick.

However, since the scheme was first proposed, the bank’s chief executive Brian Goggin has insisted from the outset that the new pension plan, which will cost workers more to fund, was on a par with the existing retirement plans for existing workers. But Mr Goggin has also said the new plan was not up for negotiation.