EMPLOYEES:STAFF AT State-owned Anglo Irish Bank heavily criticised the company and the terms of the voluntary redundancy programme (VRP) announced late last year in an internal report compiled by an employee representative group.
The report, seen by The Irish Times, shows the anger and frustration among rank-and-file members of staff at the bank after Anglo unveiled the programme, seeking up to 460 job cuts, including 230 initially.
Most anonymous submissions from staff in the report are critical of the VRP’s offer of four weeks’ pay for every year of service (excluding the statutory two weeks’ pay), capped at 52 weeks.
Many staff said in the report, dated November 19th – just over two weeks after the VRP was announced – that the package was “unacceptable” given what was on offer at other banks.
Staff expressed disappointment at their treatment, saying the 52-week cap “punishes loyalty”.
“The cap is a disgrace to anyone who has shown any sort of loyalty; at a minimum it could at least be tiered for years’ service,” one staff member said. “I would like to officially record my disgust with the package offered,” said another.
Staff complained that there was a “lack of concrete information” on the bank’s future, and that insufficient information had been made available for employees to make an informed opinion.
Employees raised concerns about how ordinary staff had been affected following the revelations about the practices of the former management team at the bank.
“It’s very important for everyone (the department, bank,media, etc) to distinguish between those at the top who were responsible for the current situation, and the ordinary bank staff who have done nothing wrong,” said one.
Another said: “Many people have lost significant savings because they believed what was being told to them; I lost everything that I had since 2000.”
Staff asked the Anglo Employee Committee, which represented about 1,500 staff, about the possibility of “retraining grants”.
The VRP was over-subscribed when it closed in January.
It emerged recently that the bank’s new chief executive Mike Aynsley sought permission from the Department of Finance to improve terms of the VRP to six weeks’ pay, plus statutory, for each year of service before it was announced, but this was refused.
Fine Gael Senator Eugene Regan said yesterday the European Commission should ensure Anglo is wound down as its sale of loans to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) would leave it technically insolvent.
He said the Government should ensure a capital bill of €6 billion faced by Anglo arising from losses to be announced by the bank shortly should be paid by private investors, not taxpayers.
“I am now calling on the commission to ensure that its own guidelines are followed after the Nama write-downs render Anglo and Irish Nationwide Building Society insolvent by forcing the Irish Government to either wind them down or break them up as per Fine Gael policy,” he said.
