IBOA challenges AIB to engage in meaningful negotiations on restructuring
Issued : 26 July 2011
The Board and senior management of AIB Group have been challenged by IBOA General Secretary, Larry Broderick, to engage meaningfully with the Union on the Bank's restructuring programme.
In a letter to the Bank's Executive Chairman, David Hodgkinson, before today's AIB AGM, the finance union leader has accused the Bank of failing to treat its employees with decency and respect by refusing to provide details of over 2,000 job cuts which were announced in April - and which may be implemented in October according to a recent announcement by the Bank.
Talks at the Labour Relations Commission between the Union and the Bank broke down last week because the LRC could find no basis for conciliation.
Mr. Broderick contrasts the lack of consideration being shown to ordinary bank staff with the generous rewards on offer to many of the former senior executives who were responsible for the collapse of AIB as well as the substantial payments being made to a number of external consultants who have been contracted in to help clean up the mess.
The IBOA leader has warned the AIB boss that the Bank's approach to restructuring is demoralising staff throughout AIB - which could have major consequences for the Bank and its stakeholders because these staff will play a crucial role if the Bank is to be returned to financial health in the future.
Mr. Broderick has called on the AIB Annual General Meeting today to mandate the Bank's senior management team to engage fully with the Union in real dialogue with IBOA on the recovery of the Bank including the restructuring programme.
The full text of Mr. Broderick's letter follows:
Dear Mr. Hodgkinson,
It is of profound regret to IBOA The Finance Union that over six months since we sought to engage in meaningful discussions with AIB on the restructuring of the Group, we are still no closer to achieving an acceptable resolution of a number of issues which are of paramount concern to the staff of the Bank.
The latest example of the Bank's approach towards its staff came last week when the Director of Conciliation at the Labour Relations Commission was forced to conclude that it would not be possible to achieve agreement through conciliation between the parties.
IBOA was disappointed though not surprised that the LRC formed this view since the Bank's unwillingness to commit itself on any of the major points of concern to its staff meant that there was no scope for the LRC to attempt to bridge the gap between the parties.
This continuing reluctance of the Bank to provide reassurance to staff has led many to question senior management's commitment to staff - on whom both AIB and the taxpayer will depend to secure the recovery of the Group's fortunes. Likewise, the Bank's pre-occupation with making high-level appointments and engaging consultants at enormous expense gives little comfort to thousands of staff who are deeply concerned about their future.
Increasingly your employees, our members, do not find it credible that these headline announcements can be made about the loss of 2,000 jobs in a restructuring programme due to commence in October without apparently any specific detail as to the numbers, grades and locations of the jobs proposed to be cut, or indeed as to the consequences for remaining staff in terms of transfers, retraining and relocation.
Considering that the staff who are likely to be targeted for redundancy have been extremely loyal to AIB at a time of unprecedented difficulties as a result of the reckless behaviour of others, your present approach is in the extreme. Indeed when our members see the manner in which many of those who were most directly associated with AIB's catastrophic policies and performance have been generously rewarded with "golden parachutes," their sense of anger and betrayal is further heightened. They also see the appointment of significant numbers of consultants at great expense to provide advice to the Bank on how to restructure the institution without apparently any commitment to engage with the staff or their trade union representatives.
The net effect of this approach is to create a dispirited and demoralised workforce - an extremely dangerous situation not just for the present but also for the future of AIB since these are the men and women on whom the Bank must rely in order to return to something approaching sound financial health.
IBOA has always endeavoured to take a constructive approach to the current difficulties facing AIB and indeed, Irish banking, in general. We have recognised that changes are necessary to address the damage caused by the unsustainable policies pursued by previous leaders of the Bank and the industry. Our objective is to try ensure that these difficult changes are managed as sensitively as possible in order to minimise as far as possible their impact on the lives of our members and their families.
For this reason, we have sought an undertaking from the Bank that any redundancies would be implemented on a voluntary basis in line with what has taken place elsewhere in the financial services sector in the last few years. By the same token, we believe that the severance terms to be offered in AIB should also conform to established sectoral norms - not only for the sake of equity with other institutions but also out of a sense of decency within the Group considering the very generous parting arrangements accorded to former senior executives.
Your employees have a number of other reasonable concerns which also deserve to be the subject of real engagement and meaningful negotiation between their trade union representatives and the senior management of the Bank.
Unfortunately, staff have not been treated with the respect they deserve. Management's approach to negotiating with IBOA so far has been like a slow bicycle race - as in meeting after meeting management representatives have engaged in prevarication, dissemblance and delay.
In the interests of all of the stakeholders in the Bank - and not least for the sake of the future recovery of AIB which will require not only sacrifice but renewed endeavour on all sides, I urge you to reconsider your current attitude and to engage positively and constructively with us in real dialogue on the renewal of the Bank which begins with the restructuring programme, as the issues have now been referred to an independent tribunal for consideration.
