HUNDREDS OF senior bank staff at Allied Irish Banks (AIB) have been been asked for a 5 per cent contribution to their pension.
The Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) is resisting the move and will refer the matter to a third-party mediator, most likely the Labour Relations Commission, over the coming days if management refuses to back down.
The affected staff are members of a defined benefit scheme which guarantees them two-thirds of their salary as a pension on retiring. Until now these staff did not pay any contribution towards their pension.
Some staff members have said the proposal is in effect a 5 per cent pay cut which is going to be imposed on them unilaterally.
Following a breakdown in talks between AIB and the IBOA on Friday, management at the bank issued the circular from the bank’s chief executive, Eugene Sheehy, telling staff that the pension contribution was a necessary move in the current economic climate.
The bank has introduced the contribution to make up the large shortfalls in the pension funds which have been severely affected by the global financial crisis.
A spokesman for IBOA said that some members had been issued the circular on Friday which contained a proposal to force staff to make the contribution.
