Central Bank employees win euro bonus

Employees at the Central Bank have won a €2,032 bonus for working during the changeover to the common European currency on New Year’s day last.

The award will affect cleaners, caterers, porters and security staff at the Dublin-based bank premises, and follows a hearing at the Labour Court.

It has been ordered by the court in the face of claims by the Central Bank that service staff in its offices were not directly affected by the switch from the now-defunct punt to the euro.

The workers involved maintained that all staff in the Central Bank’s separately-located currency centre - clerical, administrative and other personnel - had been paid the bonus for their "extra effort and flexibility".

Ireland’s biggest trade union, SIPTU, argued that service staff in the bank’s city centre headquarters should not receive less favourable treatment than their colleagues in the currency centre.

The union told the court: "While staff in each location carried out different functions, all were equal in importance and value to the overall work of the bank."

The Central Bank circulated €200m in notes and €1bn in coins during a changeover period that lasted until February.

A similar claim for a €2,539 bonus to compensate for the stress of the changeover by 1,130 drivers with Bus Eireann was turned down by the Labour Court.