Strike threat at Ulster Bank in dispute over pay and pensions

STRIKE action is brewing at Ulster Bank after management withdrew from discussions on new pay and pension arrangements for its staff yesterday.

The company and its unions had been involved in independent mediation under the auspices of Labour Relations Commission chief executive Kieran Mulvey.

However, the company left the talks and issued staff with direct communications telling them: “Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to reach agreement, so we are now making an offer directly to our people in clerical and appointed roles.” It offered staff a range of “benefit funding” of up to 10% and performance-related bonuses and also committed to a pay review in 2010. However, in return, it expected workers to sign up to a yearly limit on pensionable pay under the existing defined benefit schemes and also said it was introducing a new defined contribution pension scheme.