IBOA: Ulster Bank job cuts 'disappointing'
The Finance Union, IBOA, have said the announcement by Ulster Bank that it is to seek a further 250 redundancies among the staff of the group is profoundly disappointing - given that a rationalisation programme involving 750 job losses has yet to be completed.
Union General Secretary, Larry Broderick, said that when he warned about the threat to employment in the financial services sector earlier this week he little imagined that further job losses would be announced so soon.
"The bank’s senior management has indicated to us that its Corporate Markets and Central Services divisions will be the focus for this new round of job losses. The proposed cuts will be the subject of full negotiation and agreement - in line with the existing programme agreed by the bank with IBOA and our colleagues in SIPTU.
"The bank has given us an undertaking this morning that all job losses will be implemented on a voluntary basis and on the same terms as the programme for 750 redundancies which is already under way."
The union has also received a commitment from Ulster Bank’s Edinburgh-based parent, RBS, that its Irish subsidiary remains part of the core business of the RBS group.
"IBOA is seeking an early meeting with the RBS Chief Executive, Stephen Hester, in order to copper-fasten this commitment,” added the IBOA General Secretary.
"We intend to seek similar reassurances from other banks operating here but headquartered outside Ireland.
"The members of IBOA’s Ulster Bank Executive Committee informed management that the union would not finalise arrangements for this new round of redundancies until all outstanding issues on pay and terms and conditions for continuing staff are resolved between the union and the bank.
"This major development underlines the call I made earlier this week for a thorough review of the future of banking in Ireland. With the parent banks of many British- and Continental-owned institutions apparently looking to retrench and with most of the Irish institutions likely to be subjected to far-reaching changes as a result of NAMA, it is clear that a structured approach to the development of the financial services sector is absolutely essential.
"While IBOA will continue to lobby the relevant authorities and agencies on a bilateral basis, we believe that our proposal for a multi-lateral round-table engagement in the form of a Commission on the Future of Banking involving all the key stake-holders in the sector is an idea whose time has now come," he added.
