Negotiations are expected to continue over the weekend in an attempt to avert a strike by staff in the Bank of Ireland's call centre, threatened for December 28th.
More than 350 officials in Banking 365, the Bank of Ireland's call centre in Tallaght, Co Dublin, and in Kilkenny, have threatened industrial action over the terms of the bank's offer of compensation on the euro changeover.
The staff have been offered £300 (€381) pro-rata (depending on the hours worked) plus 25 per cent additional overtime for New Year's Day, the day on which the currency changes. Additional staff are to be allocated to the call centre for the changeover period. But all leave for call centre officials has been frozen until mid-February. However, the assistant general secretary of the Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA), Mr John O'Connell, said the company was treating the officials in the call centre as "second-class employees". Branch staff throughout the State are being paid £750.
Mr O'Connell said it would cost Bank of Ireland around £180,000 to give the call centre staff the same amount of money as branch staff; this was not a great deal of money for a company which had £1 billion profit last year.
And he pointed out that the other major bank, AIB, was paying its telephone banking staff the same rate as other staff for the changeover.
"It clearly takes something extraordinary for people to take such drastic measures during the Christmas period, but our members in Banking 365 feel rightly aggrieved by management's actions. It is our wish that customers would not be inconvenienced during the euro transition period, and indeed, if Bank of Ireland management decide to act in a reasonable manner, such inconvenience may not occur," he said.
He said that every other bank had agreed terms with their call centres.
A Bank of Ireland spokesman said there was no direct comparison between call centre staff and branch staff, who have to handle notes, coins and cheques, with the additional security and health and safety issues which arise during the changeover.
The settlement offered had been decided by an independent tribunal. "We can't legislate for other banks. It's a very strong determination that we want to resolve this issue," he said.
