Talks on 2,000 bank job losses go to arbitration

TALKS BETWEEN the banking union IBOA and AIB in relation to the bank’s plan for 2,000 job losses have been referred to the Labour Relations Commission ahead of an important week for the restructuring of the banking sector.

The union has been in negotiations with AIB for three months seeking a commitment that any redundancies will be voluntary and that the terms of the lay-offs will match industry norms.

However, talks broke down last week after AIB management was unable to reassure the union that there would be no mandatory redundancies and the disagreement was referred to the commission for conciliation.

AIB said in April it would seek to shed some 2,000 staff. But since then the union has become frustrated that its officials have not seen the detail of the bank’s business plan, nor has any formal proposal on redundancy terms been offered. “To some extent, we have been negotiating with our hands behind our backs,” union general secretary Larry Broderick said.

“We won’t be co-operating with any implementation plan, as things stand.”

The union believes that job losses at the bank could be in excess of 2,000.

The bank did not return calls seeking comment yesterday.

The union has sought an urgent meeting with Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton in relation to what is likely to be a grim autumn for banking sector employment.

Separate representations have also been made to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan seeking clarification on the Government’s plans to restructure the banking sector.

Mr Broderick said the union believed that parallel discussions were needed with Mr Bruton to address the fallout from Mr Noonan’s plans.

“We want to know what the jobs strategy is for the banking sector,” he said.

The merger of Anglo Irish Bank with Irish Nationwide Building Society and the merger of AIB with EBS Building Society are both scheduled to take place on Friday.

Mr Broderick said he had met Anglo Irish Bank’s management and would be seeking further meetings to discuss its merger with Irish Nationwide, which is taking place on the basis that the new entity will be wound down.

“We’ve set out our stall that this wind-down should take place over a number of years,” he said. The bank, which will have a new name, should also have a new board, he added.

Some 217 staff remain at Irish Nationwide following the transfer of €3.6 billion in deposits and 237 staff to Permanent TSB in February.

Although there are no redundancies directly as a result of the transfer of the remaining staff to Anglo, “significant job losses” are almost certain to emerge in the autumn, when Anglo’s management has signalled it will sit down with the union to discuss the wind-down plan, Mr Broderick said.

“The numbers, we don’t know.”

The union is also meeting Irish Nationwide’s management this week to finalise an agreement on pensions.

Both Anglo and Irish Nationwide operate defined-contribution pension schemes for employees, with just a small number of Irish Nationwide staff belonging to a defined-benefit scheme.

The Anglo defined contribution scheme offers more favourable terms for employees than the Irish Nationwide equivalent.

The union is seeking clarity on behalf of its members in Irish Nationwide as existing pension terms are not protected under the transfer agreement.

In addition to the 2,000 job losses scheduled at AIB, some 750 redundancies are planned at Bank of Ireland.

There is also “huge uncertainty” about whether Permanent TSB will maintain employment levels, Mr Broderick said.