The threat of a strike at National Irish Bank increased over the weekend when the Irish Bank Officials Association agreed to pay its members £100 a week strike pay in the event of the company attempting unilaterally to push through changes in work practices. It is the first time IBOA has agreed to issue strike pay.
The company has said it is anxious to re-enter talks with the IBOA over restructuring, following the rejection of management terms by nearly 500 union members on Friday. However IBOA's assistant general secretary, Mr Larry Broderick, said yesterday there had been no contact from the bank since it was notified of the ballot. In the circumstances, the union had no option but to prepare for industrial action.
There is still a week to reach a settlement. The bank has notified employees they must sign new contracts and return them by next Friday, while the IBOA has advised members not to sign. It has also notified NIB that industrial action would begin on Monday, September 6th, if it presses ahead with the proposed changes.
Following a meeting of the IBOA executive yesterday morning, Mr Broderick said the NIB proposals were "very much out of line with the rest of the banking industry in Ireland. The introduction of the new pay and grading structure proposed by the bank will see the maximum pay for the vast majority of staff being cut from the present £26,000 per annum to £18,000."