Pay hike on horizon for 5,500 AIB staff

Michael Noonan’s Department of Finance faces having to endorse a looming pay rise agreement in the coming weeks for 5,500 staff at AIB, the lender bailed out at a cost of €20 billion to taxpayers.

Finance union — the IBOA — yesterday said it was hopeful of securing agreement with AIB for a pay rise and regrading package — the first at the bank since the crisis struck in 2008.

The dispute was referred yesterday to Labour Relations Commission independent mediator Kevin Foley, but the IBOA said it was hopeful by the end of the month that the LRC will have signalled that a compromise pay and regrading agreement was possible.