The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) said it may defer its ballot on industrial action at Bank of Ireland following the intervention of the Labour Court in its dispute with the bank over its plans to introduce a reduced pension for new staff.

The Labour Court has called on both sides to desist from any action that could exacerbate the current dispute and to maintain the status quo until the matter has been investigated and the court has issued its recommendation.

The IBOA has called an emergency meeting of its Bank of Ireland executive committee to discuss deferring its ballot for industrial action, pending the court's investigation and recommendation.

The executive will meet tomorrow to discuss the matter. The IBOA is the main union at Bank of Ireland and industrial action would involve 8,000 staff.

But it said the gesture is conditional on Bank of Ireland also co-operating with the Labour Court's request and deferring implementation of its proposed new pension proposals, pending the court's investigation and recommendation.

The union opposes the bank's plan to close its defined benefit scheme to new staff and offer instead a "hybrid" scheme that is seen as a less favourable defined contribution model.

"This is an opportunity to address the pensions issue in a meaningful and responsible manner, in line with existing agreements, and IBOA hopes the bank will respond positively to the court's request," said IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick. Bank of Ireland also welcomed the Labour Court move, but said it would not be able to roll back the new pension arrangements that have been in place since October 1st.

"Staff recruited since then have been recruited on those terms and conditions and the bank is contractually bound to abide by those terms," he said.