The TSB group of unions has called on the chief executive designate of Newbank (the merger of ACC and TSB), Mr Harry Lorton, to ensure that negotiations with the trade unions on the merger get under way within the next three weeks. The move comes after TSB employees challenged the validity of a separate agreement reached last week between the ACC and its employees on aspects of the merger.
Almost the entire staff of ACC left their existing unions to join SIPTU and accepted a package which guaranteed no compulsory redundancies under the merger and severance terms understood to provide up to eight weeks' salary for any employee made redundant.
However, the ATGWU, which was the largest union in the ACC and second-largest in the TSB, has objected to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions over the defection of its members to SIPTU and the way in which negotiations have been handled by Mr Lorton and ACC shop stewards.
There is also a fear amongst TSB employees that the very favourable terms negotiated for ACC employees might mean they will bear a heavier brunt of the rationalisation that must follow a merger. The TSB employs about 950 people and the ACC 490. At least 200 redundancies are expected to result soon after the merger, if not before.