AIB staff reject pay freeze plan
The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) is now heading for the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) for the first time officially in this current crisis. It said that, since the issues affect members in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain, it has made contact with the state institutions in the three jurisdictions — the LRC, Britain’s ACAS and the North’s Labour Relations Agency with a view to securing early dates for meetings.
IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick said the outcome of the ballotreflects the deep sense of “upset and anger” among staff at the bank’s “opportunistic proposals”.
“Staff also recognise that the union has shown flexibility during the negotiations to date, but has been met by a totally intransigent management which has refused to move from its opening position.
“In light of this morning’s announcement that the bank is seeking to buttress its capital position still more, we would urge management to recognise the important role that the bank’s staff have played in extremely difficult circumstances.
“Staff are not a cost – they are an investment in the future of AIB with an important role to play in turning the bank’s fortunes around,” he added.
The union wrote to senior AIB management yesterday requesting the bank reconsiders its position and engages in discussions with IBOA. The IBOA pulled out of talks last month chaired by Peter Cassels under the AIB-IBOA Steering Group.
The proposals on pensions came as a severe shock to staff, many who have already lost thousands of euro because of AIB’s share price collapse. The bank is requesting a freeze on pay, bonuses and profit share.
Meanwhile, the IBOA yesterday welcomed assurances from Ulster Bank that it has no intention to seek additional job losses on top of the target of 750 redundancies already announced in January as part of the rationalisation of First Active operations into Ulster Bank.
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