BOI staff vote to strike over HP plan

KEY Bank of Ireland staff will strike if any attempt is made to transfer their employment without agreement, their union warned yesterday.

The Bank of Ireland and Hewlett Packard are finalising the terms of the biggest ever IT outsourcing contract in Ireland. Under the terms of the agreement, HP will manage the Bank of Ireland’s desktop environment, midrange servers, mainframes, networks, output and printing. HP Services will also provide some customer support and consulting and integration services.

The contract envisages 500 Bank of Ireland staff in Ireland and Britain transferring their employment to HP as part of the deal.