Ulster Bank Group
Letter to Editors on Recent Media Coverage of Issues in Banking
Issued : 13 August 2010
The following is a letter to the editors of the national newspapers in the Republic of Ireland from IBOA General Secretary Larry Broderick.
Dear Editor,
A disproportionate level of media attention has been focussed on a very modest employment benefit - at least as it applies to members of IBOA The Finance Union - through which some bank workers receive a contribution towards their membership of sports and social bodies.
That this benefit - which has been in existence for over a decade - should now be rated by some news editors as headline news is all the more surprising since this week the financial services sector has been facing many far more compelling and substantial issues - which are of major significance to Irish tax-payers (who include my members). These urgent issues include the allocation of another massive tranche of State funding to Anglo Irish Bank, the possible acquisition of EBS by a private equity fund, the viability of AIB's asset disposal plan and the continuing absence of a medium- to long-term vision for the Irish financial services sector. Each of these crucial issues deserve extensive scrutiny by journalists and detailed analysis by commentators.
But, instead, we have witnessed an excessive pre-occupation with a so-called "perk" - which for those IBOA members who avail of it, might typically be worth around €150 a year net.
This situation could have been clarified from the outset if the banks had been more forthcoming with the full information in their possession. However, since they declined to do so, we feel obliged to seek to lay this issue to rest on behalf of the ordinary bank officials we represent. While I do not doubt that some in the upper echelons of some financial institutions receive far more generous treatment, IBOA does not speak for them
But a benefit which is worth much less than the price of a pint each week for staff earning between €25,000-€50,000 a year is far from the "gravy train" which one soundbite-happy politician alleged this week with apparently no hint of self-irony!
Many employers in Ireland operate similar schemes to promote the general well-being and fitness of their staff on the basis that this will enhance productivity by reducing absence. The modest benefits highlighted in the media this week were negotiated many years ago by IBOA as part of our members' overall terms and conditions of employment - which have been under sustained attack recently.
Our members have already felt the impact of over 6,000 job losses in the last two years through the non-renewal of temporary contracts, 'natural wastage' and redundancy. Like many workers throughout the country, they have endured pay restraint, increased pension contributions for reduced benefits and attempts by employers to renege on their contractual obligations. If recent newspaper reports are to be believed, thousands more will be required to pay the ultimate price for the collective failure of banking leaders, politicians and regulatory authorities.
As well as dealing with the toxic legacy of this unregulated pursuit of excessive profit, IBOA members throughout the financial services sector have also been subjected to an intolerable level of abuse from members of the public who blame ordinary bank staff for the recklessness and greed of senior executives.
An online survey of bank officials conducted by IBOA has found that 76% of ordinary bank staff have been subjected to abuse by members of the public in the last eighteen months - either in work, outside work or both. Frontline bank staff deeply resent the fact that they are being used as "human shields" to bear the brunt of the public anger which should be directed at their bosses.
Our fear is that by hyping up stories about so-called "perks", some sections of the media may add further fuel to this fire. Bank staff are already exposed to the recurring threat of kidnapping and violence to themselves and their families from criminal gangs. They can do without the additional pressure of further abuse from members of the public enflamed by highly provocative media commentary.
Larry Broderick
General Secretary
IBOA The Finance Union
