Bank workers' union hits out at 'golden parachutes' for former bosses

Compensation packages paid to former bank bosses show that there is “one rule for the rich and another for the rest,” a representative of banking workers said today.

Bank workers' union hits out at 'golden parachutes' for former bosses

Compensation packages paid to former bank bosses show that there is “one rule for the rich and another for the rest,” a representative of banking workers said today.

Irish Bank Officials’ Association (IBOA) general secretary Larry Broderick said that lower-level bank officials are apprehensive about their future.

“While the lavish golden parachutes for those at the top apparently come with cast-iron guarantees, there have been no such assurances for ordinary bank staff who are facing redundancy and early retirement on very modest terms,” he said.

The union put forward the example of the now defunct Irish Nationwide Building Society where former chief executive Michael Fingleton, walked away with a personal pension pot worth €26m out of a total pension fund of €32m.

“Since the onset of the banking crisis IBOA has been highlighting the exceptional treatment for former senior executives across the financial service sector who have been allowed to walk away from the wreckage of Irish banking largely unscathed and with the benefit of super-pensions worth many multiples of the average wage,” said Mr Broderick.

“While the hypocrisy of this situation offends common-sense and natural justice, we learn from the Minister for Finance that these generous executive pension arrangements must be honoured because they are contractual.

“Our members have some difficulty understanding this point since their contractual entitlements involving extremely modest amounts have been consistently challenged by employers in the financial services sector.

“Like so much else in Irish life, there seems to be one rule for the rich and another for the rest!”

He also criticised the “modest” support for retiring staff which he said are “light years away from the lavish golden parachutes which apparently must be paid to former senior executives”.

He continued: “No less than the general public, our members are angry that those deemed to be largely responsible for the virtual collapse of Irish banking have yet to be held to account – even though thousands of jobs have been lost in the financial sector and many thousands more in the wider economy.

“IBOA is aware that the Irish Government has recently commissioned a review of remuneration in Irish banking.

“IBOA intends to participate in this review in order to highlight the disastrous consequences of the remuneration system which has emerged over the last decade or so and which relies to an unhealthy degree on performance-related pay and bonuses.

“IBOA believes that a rebalancing of the structure of rewards within the sector is absolutely essential to reform the culture of Irish banking in order to promote sound ethical principles based on genuine service to the customer.”

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