Compromise on union recognition for managers at National Irish Bank

In early 1999, the Irish Labour Court ruled that the National Irish Bank may talk directly to its managers about pay issues on a one-to-one basis, but must recognise their trade union, the Irish Bank Officials Association, in respect of all other matters.

According to a Labour Court ruling issued in early 1999, the National Irish Bank (NIB) is not obliged to discuss pay issues with the Irish Bank Officials Association (IBOA) in cases where managers choose to join the Association. The bank may talk directly to such managers on a one-to-one basis about pay, but must discuss any other issues on a collective basis with IBOA.

A subsidiary of the National Australia Bank, NIB employs around 850 people in Ireland. In March 1998, IBOA - a trade union affiliated to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) - requested a meeting with management to discuss the bank's new proposals on managers' pay, indicating that the vast majority of managers had not accepted these proposals and were seeking IBOA's representation. The IBOA has full negotiation rights with the bank for non-managerial staff. There are 130 managers employed by NIB, but there is no reliable estimate regarding the total who are members of IBOA.

NIB refused to concede full IBOA recognition for the managers on the grounds that alternative mechanisms had been put in place following a 1992 nationwide bank dispute. NIB claimed that these were adequate and continue to apply to a majority of managers in the industry.

The Labour Court?s recommendation effectively sets out clear "rules of engagement" for the parties with regard to those managers who choose to join the union. Furthermore, as the case was referred to the Court by the IBOA under section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1969, the recommendation is binding on the parties.

The Court recommended that IBOA accept that performance-related pay (PRP) is a matter between an individual manager and the bank. However, in order to allay IBOA fears that this might devalue salary levels, it recommended that the fullest information, "on a general basis", must be supplied to the Association.

The Court also said that the IBOA must allow automatic entry to the Association for those managers who wish to join it. This was a reference to managers who were expelled from the IBOA after the 1992 bank strike for failing to support the union?s action at the time.