IBOA preparing legal action against Ulster Bank

Bank workers' union IBOA is preparing legal action against Ulster Bank/First Active for alleged breach of contract on behalf of almost 5,000 members in the Republic of Ireland and the North, it was revealed today.

Speaking at a conference in Athlone, Co Westmeath, today, IBOA General Secretary Larry Broderick told delegates that the union’s Executive Committee had established a substantial “fighting fund” to run cases against Ulster Bank Group over its failure to honour existing contracts for staff covering a number of payments which the bank has withheld.

Mr Broderick said that by failing to honour these contractual payments, the bank has in effect made an illegal deduction from union members’ wage packets.

“IBOA is very conscious of the need to avoid unnecessary hardship to the customers of Ulster Bank with whom our members have attempted to build a positive relationship. So in order to avoid industrial action at this time, we are now asking our legal advisers in Dublin and Belfast to prepare a legal action against Ulster Bank in both the Republic and Northern Ireland.

“It is regrettable that the Bank’s refusal to negotiate under the agreed mediation process has forced us into having to contemplate taking this issue through the courts. But unfortunately we have been left with no alternative.

The IBOA’s announcement follows Ulster Bank’s declaration on Monday that it does not intend to return to the mediation process, which it abandoned over a week earlier.

The bank has indicated that it intends to offer new contracts of employment to staff, which the IBOA says are "significantly inferior" to existing contracts.

"We have approached the National Pensions Board in the Republic for its views on the Bank’s pension proposals," Mr Broderick said, "as well as drawing this development to the attention of the relevant Government Ministers in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain."