AIB staff to receive average 5.5 per cent pay rise over two years

Staff at AIB are in line for average pay increases of 5.5 per cent spread over the next two years following recommendations from the Workplace Relations Commission.

Both AIB and the Financial Services Union have accepted the proposals and they will now be put to a ballot of bank staff.

The deal includes an average 2.75 per cent pay increase for staff both this year and next. The increases are due to take effect on April 1st in both years.

The recommendations from Anna Perry of the WRC also provide for the terms of a previously-negotiated job security agreement to be extended until the end of 2019.

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In addition, AIB will continue to pay the management fees associated with its defined contribution pension scheme until the end of 2018.

The FSU has agreed to ongoing co-operation with the bank’s change and restructuring plans while the bank has committed to full consultation and engagement on matters arising from its restructuring proposals.

Billy Barrett, a senior industrial relations officer with the FSU, said the deal represented an improvement on the pay increase secured and accepted in 2016.

“Importantly the deal will also copperfasten job security and existing redeployment arrangements previously negotiated by FSU until the end of 2019,” he said. “These securities have been important for AIB staff in recent years as the bank emerged from the turmoil of the financial crash, and it is vital that they are locked down into the future. This deal achieves that.”

Important role

Larry Broderick, FSU general secretary, said staff had played an important role in returning AIB to profitability, to the point where it is expected to pay the State a dividend this year.

“The prospect of a sale of part of the State’s [99 per cent] shareholding in AIB this year is a concern to our members,” he said. “The fact that our union has also secured an extension of current job security and redeployment arrangements ... will be an important factor as members decide on the deal.

“Another positive to this deal is the protection of pension entitlements in the DC pension scheme, particularly at a time when many workers in the private sector are facing the erosion of pension scheme benefits.”

Commenting on the recommendations, AIB said: “AIB Group has been in ongoing discussions with the Financial Services Union over the last number of months on reward arrangements for 2017. The Workplace Relations Commission has assisted with these discussions and has put forward a recommendation for acceptance by both sides.

“AIB Group has confirmed its acceptance of the WRC recommendation.The Financial Services Union (formerly IBOA) will now commence a ballot of its members and is recommending acceptance of the proposals.”

This is the latest pay deal proposed between the FSU and a major Irish bank. Earlier this month, independent mediator Kieran Mulvey recommended an average pay increase of 2 per cent for Ulster Bank staff..

However, the union and Ulster Bank have disagreed over the timing of the implementation of new salary ranges, with the FSU this week taking the unusual decision to suspend the ballot on pay until this matter is resolved.