IRISH Life sales staff will meet on Wednesday to vote on the Labour Court recommendation which the company has decided to implement next month. The Manufacturing Science Finance union (MSF) representing 400 sales staff has not recommended acceptance of the recommendation.
If staff reject the recommendation next week they will be on a ,collision course with the company which is adamant that it will implement the new structures from February 3rd. The company says it has reached "the end of the road" on negotiations.
"If people persist in refusing to accept change we will have to move ahead. We will ask for cooperation but if that's not forthcoming we will move on disciplinary matters which could include suspensions," a spokesman said.
If the personal financial advisers (PFAs) do not take up posts "in the new home services division, ,these posts will be filled "from elsewhere", he added.
Stating that he could not predict the outcome of the secret ballot, MSF official, Mr John Tierney, said his members were very fearful about their jobs.
"They are facing very difficult decisions. If a dispute starts it could last indefinitely. Only 30 per cent of the sales staff will be compensated for the changes and the others will get nothing. About 80 of them have been told that they do not justify the income - they get. They believe these changes are being used to drive them out of their jobs," he said.
Irish Life chief executive (Ireland Retail), Ms Jean Wood, yesterday attacked the union. She accused MSF of being "stuck in a 1970s style confrontational approach to change".
Mr Tierney dismissed her remarks as "a bit rich coming from Irish Life". Management and the unions have been discussing major changes in sales structures for about 15 months.
Yesterday, Ms Wood accused the union of not representing the interests of its members, suggesting their interests would be best served by "urging the company on the need to address customer needs".
If the sales staff do not act to improve service, customers "will simply go elsewhere and earnings will fall", she said, adding that staff earnings were tied to business generated from customers.
Mr Tierney said he had approached managing director, Mr David Kingston, in 1994 offerings "a much more participatory and partnership style approach to negotiations".
"Her comments fly in the face of what I tried to do over two years ago when I warned the company about what would happen. But they did not want to know".
Irish Life said the changes at the centre of the current dispute are "the minimum necessary to satisfy changing customer demands at this stage". The company is trying to introduce major changes too rapidly, according to Mr Tierney.
The Labour Court recommended that Irish Life increase the lump sum and commission payments offered for the changes. The court accepted Irish Life's argument that changes were required but said that account must be taken of the uncertainty felt by the employees affected.
