National Irish Bank has said that it will not force permanent staff to sign new performance-related pay contracts by Friday's deadline. In an apparent attempt to defuse the situation, a bank spokeswoman said "staff will continue to work as normal if they do not wish to sign up".
She said customer services would not be affected by the current dispute with the Irish Bank Officials Association because NIB "is adamant there won't be a strike". Both sides had given commitments to meet and try to resolve their differences.
However, the IBOA assistant general secretary, Mr Larry Broderick, said later that no attempt had been made to set up a meeting. He predicted that an "all-out strike" was still likely to take place on Monday, September 6th, the date set by the IBOA.
He said the bank must defer the September 3rd deadline for signing the new contracts and set firm dates for talks if the strike was to be avoided.
He was particularly concerned about the situation of temporary bank staff who had been told they must sign the contracts to be made permanent. "It is extraordinary for the bank to say people can opt in to the contract but if they don't they will be sacked."
The bank spokeswoman said the contracts offered greater mobility and promotional outlets. All temporary staff who had so far signed the contracts had moved into higher positions. So far, 167 "pre-management staff' out of 485 eligible to opt for the new contracts had done so.
The IBOA claims many of those who have signed contracts did so under pressure and would be joining Monday's strike. A significant minority of those who left the IBOA during the protracted 1992 banks' strike had rejoined the association, said Mr Broderick.
He said it would be the first national bank strike involving just one institution and this would leave NIB vulnerable to competition.