‘Significant majority’ of Ulster Bank workers vote to accept pay deal

Ulster Bank workers represented by the Financial Services Union (FSU) have voted to accept the terms of a new pay deal that will increase employee pay by upwards of 4 per cent for most of its employees on both sides of the Border.

The NatWest-owned lender, which is still operational in Northern Ireland as it winds down its business in the Republic, will implement the increases from April 1st, the FSU said in a statement on Thursday.

Recommended by the union and backed by a “significant majority” of members, the deal, is the result of “weeks of hard negotiations by the FSU team with representatives of Ulster Bank and NatWest”, said senior FSU industrial relations officer Mandy La Combre in a statement.

“In what has been a challenging year for everyone, it was important that staff were adequately compensated for their professionalism in delivering a consumer-friendly service,” she said. “Inflation and the cost of living are still creating daily demands on households, therefore inflation-proofed pay increases are reasonable. It is important the retail banking sector is competitive in its pay, and continues to attract workers into the sector.”

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Under the deal, the majority of Ulster Bank workers will receive a 4 per cent annual pay increase with some receiving up to 8 per cent depending on performance.

Ulster Bank, which announced its exit from the market in the Republic in 2021, is continuing to wind down its operations in the jurisdiction. It announced last May that it was looking for a further 813 redundancies after initial layoffs and the transfer of some 600 staff who moved with loans being sold to AIB.

The lender closed its branch network in the Republic last April.

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