NATIONAL IRISH Bank (NIB) has agreed to improve severance pay for staff leaving under its plan to seek 150 redundancies, following recommendations by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).
The bank is reducing its 634- strong staff by 25 per cent in a wide-ranging restructuring that will see the Danish-owner lender close 25 of its 58 branches and move to cash-free banking.
The redundancies are open to staff across the bank as the company seeks to reduce costs after recording heavy losses over the past 18 months.
The bank has accepted the LRC recommendation that staff receive 7.25 weeks of pay for each year up to a maximum of 2.5 years of salary, an increase from six weeks pay for every year of service up to a cap of two years salary originally offered by the bank.
The bank has also decided not to reduce the pensions of staff of 55 years or over who took early retirement in advance of normal retirement age.
The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) will ballot members on the recommendations until February 17th.
The union was engaged in intensive negotiations with the bank on the revised terms of the redundancy plan since it was announced in December.
NIB is cutting 100 staff from its retail network and 50 across other areas of the bank, including staff from its head office in Dublin.
The bank advised the IBOA that staff would have to apply for jobs in the restructured business. The LRC recommended that staff be assessed based on past performance, a competency-based interview, a formal presentation and psychometric testing for managers and specialists.
Kevin Foley, independent chairman at the LRC, recommended that no changes be made to pay or the terms and conditions of employment of staff appointed to new roles.
The LRC has recommended that if the bank does not reach its target of 150 redundancies on a voluntary basis, it should engage with the IBOA to seek other options.
Under a measure to protect job security following the redundancy plan, NIB has agreed not to seek any compulsory redundancies until December 31st, 2012, if the current plan is implemented by the bank’s target date of June 30th, 2011.
