Labour Court recommends against Bank Of Ireland rationalisation payment

In 2001, the Labour Court recommended against a rationalisation payment for staff after Bank Of Ireland merged its Treasury and International Banking departments. Its recommendation was dated 13 September 2001. The Irish Bank Officials' Association said staff had helped make the merger succeed, expected recognition for their cooperation and pointed to payments elsewhere in the bank. Bank Of Ireland said those payments related to the greater disruption caused by branch mergers, and that paying 550 staff would be costly and set an unacceptable precedent. The Court said the departmental merger did not bring comparable disruption to merging branches and was not convinced it had caused major changes to staff work or conditions. It did not recommend the payment.