The Irish Bank Officials’ Association says it will not co-operate with AIB’s plans to cut its workforce by 2,000 until “complete agreement” is reached on severance.

IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick said an e-mail sent to AIB staff on Friday by executive chairman David Hodgkinson said the bank was aiming to begin implementing its redundancy programme in October. Mr Broderick said AIB had told the union in recent negotiations that it was not in a position to confirm any details of its severance plan, “so how can they indicate they’re going to have it in place by October?”

Talks between the two sides broke down last month after the bank was unable to provide reassurances that there would be no mandatory redundancies. A Labour Relations Commission hearing is due to take place on July 19th.