The union representing Irish Bank Resolution Corporation(IBRC) staff will meet the bank’s liquidator shortly, possibly early next week, to discuss the future of 1,000 employees.
Staff were told by email yesterday that their contracts had been terminated and they were being employed on monthly rolling contracts during the liquidation of the bank.
Statutory redundancy
While salary and some conditions would remain the same, they would only be given statutory redundancy payment because of the liquidation process.
“We appreciate this is a difficult time for all employees and we will ensure that you are kept up to date on all developments over the coming weeks and months,” the email told employees.
“Meetings for small groups of employees will be arranged over the coming week to provide an opportunity to have any issues or queries addressed,” it added.
The Irish Bank Officials Association said it wanted to meet the liquidator, Kieran Wallace, to find out how long he estimated the winding up of IBRC would take.
“As the workers have received no indication as to what the future holds for them if and when the assets of IBRC transfer over to another entity (probably Nama), the union is keen to ensure that certainty is provided for these workers as soon as possible,” general secretary Larry Broderick said in a statement.
Staff turned up for work as normal yesterday morning after hearing news overnight of the bank’s liquidation. None of them leaving or entering the bank’s head office on Burlington Road in Dublin wanted to discuss the developments.
The bank employs more than 1,000 staff worldwide – 800 in the Republic and others mainly in Belfast and London.
The union said staff initially thought there would be a meeting yesterday morning to inform them of developments but instead they received the email. They were shocked at the way news about their jobs was relayed to them, said the union.
“The turmoil and suddenness of this is shocking. People are desperate for clarification,” said Séamas Sheils, communications manager with the union.
Better redundancy terms of four weeks’ pay per year of service had been on offer to staff at the bank previously and the sudden liquidation of the company removed that offer, he added. Staff would now receive just two weeks’ pay per year of service.
‘People unnerved’
There was confusion among employees as to whether they could continue working with clients as normal since the change in status of the bank might preclude this, he said. “These things seriously unnerve people. We would have hoped for a bit more certainty in the start of this process,” Mr Shiels said .