AIB hopes lay-offs will be voluntary
Issued : 10 March 2011
RTE
AIB's executive chairman has told staff there will be job losses as a result of a restructuring plan which will make the bank smaller.
In an e-mail to staff, David Hodgkinson said the bank would prefer that most redundancies would be voluntary, and said job losses would be phased throughout the bank.
He said the findings of a review of AIB's future had been submitted to the board, and would now be discussed with the regulator and the Government.
Mr Hodgkinson said the review covered the bank's future size, its management structure and staff numbers.
The e-mail also said that the bank was now selecting people for its top management positions, and would announce appointments 'as soon as possible'.
IBOA General Secretary, Larry Broderick, is seeking an urgent meeting with the new Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan and with AIB's Executive Chairman, David Hodgkinson, following reports that the Bank's senior management has formulated a restructuring plan for the banking group.
The IBOA has said that this announcement comes as a surprise to both the staff and to the Union since at no stage in our recent engagement with the Bank has there been any indication that the plan was at such an advanced stage.
Larry Broderick has said that the Union has been involved in preliminary discussions with the Bank under the auspices of two respected mediators.
But at no time 'were either we or the mediators made aware that the bank was about to submit a comprehensive restructuring plan to the board and to the Government.'
IBOA has said that is determined to ensure that our members' concerns are fully articulated in negotiations with the Bank and in discussion with the Minister, who now acts as the de facto owner of AIB on behalf of the Irish State.
