IBOA rejects Ulster Bank's pay and pension plan
Issued : 26 August 2009
Business and Leadership.com
The Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA), the union for staff in Ireland's financial sector, has rejected Ulster Bank's announcement that it plans to freeze pay for 2009 and make changes to its defined benefit pension scheme.
"The Bank's proposals have neither discussed nor agreed with the Union," said IBOA General Secretary, Larry Broderick. "We consider that our members in Ulster Bank are once again being scapegoated for the profligate lending policies of senior management in both Ulster Bank and its parent company, RBS.
"Our members in Ulster Bank are outraged to hear that senior management is proposing a major assault on the value of their pensions in the wake of the revelation that former Chief Executive Sir Fred Goodwin was awarded an annual pension of UK£700,000, despite bringing RBS to the brink of collapse," he said.
"The bank's proposal to make no pay award to ordinary bank officials for 2009 is similarly unacceptable - not least because no later than Monday of this week, management advised us that they were committed to entering a conciliation process on pay at the start of September."
According to Broderick, Ulster Bank has a contractual obligation to staff to pay increments and performance rewards under PEF and the bank's proposal is in breach of IBOA members' contractual rights.
He also claimed that Ulster Bank staff are being discriminated against in comparison to other staff in the RBS Group.
The IBOA said it will now consult with its members in Ulster Bank to determine "a practical response" to the bank's proposals.
It will also ask the agreed independent mediator, Kieran Mulvey, to review all of the issues around pay and pensions at a scheduled meeting on 2 September, 2009.
"Despite huge sacrifices by Ulster Bank staff - including a major restructuring programme involving 750 job losses already under way and a further 250 redundancies being sought, staff are being asked to bear the brunt of this mismanagement. In conditions where the relentless drive for unachievable targets continues unabated, this can only exacerbate the difficulties already being experienced by customers and the economy as a whole," Broderick said.
