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.

In a ballot of 172 staff, there were 163 returns and 83% voted to take industrial action, to prevent Bank of Ireland ITSIS from proceeding with any outsourcing without full agreement.

Bank of Ireland head of group corporate communications David Holden said there is a long way to go in the process.

“People know that when we say terms and conditions will be maintained, we mean it,” he added.