Selected staff at Ulster Bank are to be paid £2,000 each to be on call over the millennium weekend, plus additional payments of up to £135 an hour if actually required to work. Bank of Ireland staff have negotiated a similar, although slightly less generous deal.
Both deals were reached through the main banking union, the Irish Bank Officials' Association. The IBOA assistant general secretary, Mr Larry Broderick, said yesterday that the union had rejected an offer of £1,000 from AIB for working through the millennium celebrations. "But we expect to do a deal within a few weeks," he said. He added that the union "welcomes the fact that banks are beginning to engage with us in recognising that the millennium is a special occasion, and that they have ignored the advice of IBEC to treat it as a normal working day".
The general secretary of the IBOA, Mr Ciaran Ryan, called for £2,000 payments for working the millennium last April and Mr Broderick said that the agreements showed this was a realisable objective. "In my opinion employers will have to pay high rates to get staff to work," he said. Under the Ulster Bank agreement, details of which appear in the latest IBOA Newsheet, staff who are on call from 6 p.m. on Friday 31st to 6 p.m. on Saturday, January 1st, will receive £2,000.
Those called in to work will be paid 1.5 times the normal weekend attendance rate - £45.26 - and twice the weekend attendance rate for "any hours beyond the designated hours".
Staff who work will also receive a day off in lieu for designated hours. They will be given another day off should they be required for extra hours. About 100 people, mostly in the information technology area, will be involved.
The Bank of Ireland scheme will involve significantly larger numbers because of its larger banking operation and retail network. Staff on call from December 31st to January 3rd will receive between £500 and £950. Triple the IBOA weekend attendance rate will apply for hours actually worked.
Both schemes are optional, but no shortage of volunteers is anticipated.