The IBOA Bank Officials Association (IBOA) today said it had launched legal action against Ulster Bank in relation the bank’s failure to honour existing staff contracts by withholding pay of employees.
In a statement, the IBOA said it had lodged papers with the Rights Commissioner Service to commence legal action against the Ulster Bank Group for allegedly making illegal deductions from the wages of its employees.
A parallel action is being taken by the union in Northern Ireland, where papers were lodged with the High Court.
The union says the bank has withheld payments that are contractually due to staff and that employees in Britain employed by Ulster Bank's parent company, RBS, have already received these payments without preconditions.
The IBOA said that although Ulster Bank is offering to pay one of the payments it will only do so if staff sign up to "dramatically changed contracts" that would "seriously reduce" their pension benefits on retirement and undermine existing terms and conditions.
IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick, said the union was taking this "unusual step" in an bid to secure its members' entitlements under the existing contracts.
"We believe that our members are now being asked to make life-changing decisions about their future in order to secure payments which are already theirs by right. Our legal action aims to secure these entitlements - without the necessity for our members to sign away important benefits for the future," he said.
"The bank has given staff just over two weeks to make this important decision and have failed to provide them with the necessary data to enable them to make a fully informed choice.
"However, today's action is about the bank's failure to honour the terms of the existing contract," Mr Broderick said, accusing the bank of a "fundamental breach of trust".
In response, Ulster Bank said it was communicating directly with staff.