The Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA) is to seek an early meeting with senior management at Bank of Ireland after its members voted to accept major recommendations on the bank's plans to restructure the company.

In a move welcomed by the bank, IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick said its members had voted by a majority to accept proposals on the bank's "strategic transformation programme".

These were put together by Kieran Mulvey, chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, and relate to plans by Bank of Ireland to cut costs by €120 million a year by 2009. Staff numbers at the group will be reduced by 2,100 as part of the restructuring process.

Under the plans, staff choosing redundancy in the Republic will be paid eight weeks' pay per year of service, including two weeks of statutory redundancy, up to a cap of two and a half years' pay.

In Britain and Northern Ireland, the package on offer will include four weeks' pay plus statutory redundancy, with the cap again set at two and a half years' pay.

Mr Mulvey's proposals also include an early retirement programme, with those staff who remain at work seeing their working week reduced to 35 hours.

However, during meetings prior to the vote, Mr Broderick said IBOA members had expressed "serious misgivings and cynicism" regarding the bank's commitment to honour and implement all aspects of Mr Mulvey's recommendations.

"IBOA will be seeking an early meeting with senior bank management to facilitate the introduction of a 35-hour week, the application of the 6 per cent profit share payment and to ensure that any staff wishing to leave the bank, through voluntary severance or early retirement, are accommodated," he said.

"Given recent revelations, IBOA will be ensuring that staff will not be tapped on the shoulder or forced out and will be insisting all staff wishing to remain in Bank of Ireland will be accommodated."

This meeting is expected to take place within the next week.

Welcoming the move, Bank of Ireland said it will now begin to implement its "change programme", and would continue to engage with union representatives throughout this process.

"I am very pleased that a positive outcome has been achieved following intensive discussions with staff representatives over a number of months," said Brian Goggin, Bank of Ireland group chief executive.

"We are determined to embrace change from our position of strength and we can now begin to implement a programme of change that will transform our business."