IBRC staff to be balloted for action
Workers’ union IBOA is holding a “consultative” ballot of its just over 100 members in IBRC, to establish whether they are willing to take the action. According to the trade union, workers who chose to take redundancy up to 14 months ago received four weeks’ pay per year of service.
However, when the wind-down of IBRC was accelerated in February of last year, the terms were cut to the statutory two weeks’ pay per year of service.
With IBRC’s demise brought much closer, IBOA asked Labour Relations Commission chief executive Kieran Mulvey to intervene to establish what increase to the compensation package could be achieved.
However, following a number of months of talks, there has been no increase.
An IBRC spokesman said workers in the financial institution felt like they had been “strung along” to keep managing the financial institution’s assets in the hope an increase in the redundancy package could be achieved.
IBOA said they were now essentially facing compulsory redundancy and so the only weapon in their armoury was to threaten to withdraw co-operation with the preparations for the disposal of the remaining IBRC loans.
“The workers — many of whom earn less than €30,000 a year — have already helped to sell €10bn worth of loans to the benefit of the taxpayer and have been working to ensure that the State gets the best possible return from the sale of further assets from the company,” said an IBOA spokesman.
IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick said the workers have become the collateral damage in the State’s solution to the promissory notes issue.
“Considering the enormous sums of money involved in working out the IBRC loan book and compared to the very extraordinary fees being paid to the battery of accountants, lawyers and consultants involved in the special liquidation process, the cost of providing fair and reasonable compensation for the IBRC workers is relatively minor, especially taking account of the vital work they perform in managing the loan book,” he said.
