Labour Court Database __________________________________________________________________________________ File Number: CD88686 Case Number: LCR12078 Section / Act: S67 Parties: BANK OF IRELAND - and - BANK OF IRELAND;IRISH BANK OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION |
Pay, duties and numbers of a new Bank Assistant Grade.
Recommendation:
6. The Court considers that the Bank's proposal for the
introduction of the new grade of Bank Assistant is reasonable,
particularly having regard to the imbalance arising from the
present grade structure. The new recruitment policy will enable
the Bank to bring its staff structure more in line with its work
requirements and the practice in similar employments.
Having regard to the duties expected of the new recruits the Court
recommends that the salary attaching to it should be an eleven
point scale:
#6,750 x #400 to #10,750
The Court recommends that the improvements recommended by the
independent tribunal should also apply.
All former or existing employees (temporary and part-time) who are
recruited onto the new scale at any time in the future should be
given the appropriate incremental credit on the scale.
The Court recommends, in the interest of good industrial
relations, that the Bank should accept this recommendation and
indicate its acceptance to the IBOA at an early date. The IBOA
should then put the proposal to a ballot of all its members in the
employment of the Bank of Ireland before taking any decision on
its acceptance or otherwise. Should a majority of the members
vote in favour of the recommendation, then the Court recommends
that it should be accepted by the IBOA.
The question of the pension arrangements should be the subject of
further discussion between the parties but this matter should not
hold up the implementation of the recommendations in the preceding
paragraphs of this recommendation.
Division: CHAIRMAN Mr Heffernan Mr Devine
Text of Document__________________________________________________________________
CD88686 RECOMMENDATION NO. LCR12078
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1976
SECTION 67
PARTIES: BANK OF IRELAND
and
IRISH BANK OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION
SUBJECT:
1. Pay, duties and numbers of a new Bank Assistant Grade.
BACKGROUND:
2. At a meeting held in March, 1987 the Bank advised and outlined
to the Union its Plan to Improve Competitiveness (PIC). The total
cost of implementing the PIC is expected to be #30m, the main
elements of which are:-
- the introduction of a new Bank Assistant Grade
- Voluntary Parting Scheme
- Optional Early Retirement
- Career Break Scheme.
Local level meetings took place in April and December, 1987 and
two further meetings were held in January and February, 1988 under
the Chairmanship of Professor Basil Chubb. As it was not possible
to reach agreement on all aspects of the PIC it was agreed to
refer the matter to a Tribunal for consideration and
recommendation. This Tribunal consisted of an agreed Chairman, a
representative selected by the Union and a representative selected
by the Bank. The Tribunal hearing took place on 30th May, 1988,
the recommendations of the Tribunal are set out in Appendix 1.
These recommendations were accepted by the Bank but rejected by
the Union, following which the matter was referred to the
conciliation service of the Labour Court. Seven conciliation
conferences took place between 24th June, 1988 and 29th August,
1988 at which the central issue was the introduction of the new
Bank Assistant grade.
3. The Bank's proposal is for the introduction of a new
recruitment grade of Bank Assistant in addition to the existing
recruitment onto the Bank Official grade at scale 1. There would
be no automatic progression out of the Bank Assistant scale but in
any one year 10% of recruitment on to the Bank Official scale
would be reserved for serving Bank Assistants. The Bank expects
to take on 700/800 bank assistants in the first twelve months and
this grade would eventually account for 35% of total permanent
staff. The duties of the new grade would consist of those junior
duties currently performed by Bank Officials (details supplied to
the Court). The pay proposed is an eleven point scale from #6,500
to #10,200 per annum (this is based on the initial proposal of
#6,000 to #9,500 p.a. plus a general increase of 7% awarded since
discussions commenced). The Bank Official scale ranges from
#8,340 to #9,987 p.a. and Bank Officials generally proceed to the
grade of Senior Bank Official after five years (scale of #10,059
to #18,201 p.a.). The pension scheme proposed would provide a
Bank Assistant retiring on full service with a total pension
inclusive of the single person's state pension, equal to 40/60
th's of final salary. In the case of a Bank Assistant leaving the
Bank's service prior to the normal retirement date, the choice
would, be: a refund of contributions to the fund; or a preserved
pension payable at normal retirement date; or the transfer to
another scheme of the actuarial value of that pension. The rate
of contribution would be 2.5% of pensionable salary.
The Union has proposed that new entrants be taken in on the
existing scale 1 with the addition of a number of increments to
the top of scale 1 taken from the first six years of scale 3
creating an eleven year scale ranging from #8,340 to #11,523 with
no automatic progression out of the scale. At conciliation it was
suggested to the parties that a single scale be introduced ranging
from #7,500 to #11,000 (eleven points) with recruitment for Bank
Assistants on the bottom point and recruitment on the 4th or 5th
point for Bank Officials. The Bank Officials to retain the right
to automatic progression after five years onto the Senior Bank
Official scale. No agreement could be reached and on 6th
September, 1988 the matter was referred to the Labour Court for
investigation and recommendation. The Court investigated the
dispute on 3rd October, 1988.
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
4. 1. The Bank will be seeking to introduce about 2,000 Bank
Assistants. According to Bank statements to date there are
presently about 1,200 officials willing to take the voluntary
redundancy and early retirement package proposed. These will
be for the most part experienced and mature officials and even
taking the Bank's figure of 1,200, which is probably
exaggerated, a minimum of an additional 800 workers will have
to be found in the next few years. The Bank will not get an
efficient match of the departing workers with the incoming
Bank Assistants in terms of grade and the duties described for
the new category will have implications for the existing scale
1/SBO. Considering the vagueness of the details of duties
proposed for the new grade (see Appendix 2) the Union is
concerned that a substantial number of existing Bank Officials
will be moved from the present general mix of duties to a
higher range of duties. It will be to the Bank's advantage to
increase the numbers in the cheaper category and consequently
there will be growing pressure on the remaining Scale 1/SBO's
to take higher and higher level duties, for no extra
remuneration.
2. In discussions on the introduction of the Bank Assistant
grade, the Union has put forward a number of proposals which
the Bank has rejected. These included the proposal that the
Bank use the existing scale 1 as a basis for single entry
recruitment with the addition of a number of increments to the
top of Scale 1 taken from the first six years of Scale 3
creating an eleven year scale to #11,523. The proposals
suggested form the basis of a change which can give the Bank
considerable benefits and do not create serious consequences
either for the Bank internally or for its relativity with
other Banks. The essential aspect of the Union's proposal is
that it is based on existing negotiated and agreed scales
applied in the Industry. The scales proposed by the Bank are
based on a random selection which does not take into account
either the recruitment qualifications or the duties or
responsibilities involved. A substantial number of the grades
in companies quoted by the Bank have nothing like the level of
responsibility of a junior Bank Official. The duties which
were traditionally allocated to the junior grades have to a
great extent been absorbed by technology and system changes.
In addition the temporary workers employed by the Bank have
absorbed the more routine and repetitive tasks.
3. The Bank has previously emphasised the fact that at
present a large proportion of workers are on the Senior Bank
Official scale (58.5%) and the minority are on Scales 1 and 3
(10%) compared to a reverse situation in 1975 where 62% of
workers were either on Scale 1 or 3 and 18.7% were on the SBO
scale. The Bank has also pointed to the fact that even more
importantly it is the automatic progression to the maximum of
the Senior Bank Official Scale which is causing the major
imbalance in labour costs. However, the Banks all recruited
on a large scale in the 1970's and the movement of workers up
a scale is a reasonable consequence which should have been
foreseen at the time. In any event, if automatic progression
is the major cause of imbalances in labour costs the Union's
proposals have also dealt with this fact and meet the Bank's
problems.
4. The option lies between a single entry system which has
worked well in the past in the industry, with the possibility
of agreement to eliminate the major distortion in staff costs,
avoiding demarcation problems and offering some type of career
prospects to the Bank Assistants and the Bank's two tier
recruitment proposal. The two tier recruitment system imposes
demarcation and such a system could not be accepted before
undertaking a job evaluation of the structure. Equally a
specific set number of posts could not be accepted prior to
such an evaluation as it is the duties which would set the
relevant number of posts. The matter of the pension is not an
issue for consideration by the Court. There is no justice in
the Bank's proposal on the pension scheme applicable and it
has serious potential consequences for all workers and
therefore remains totally unacceptable.
BANK'S ARGUMENTS:
5. 1. Implementation of the Plan to Improve Competitiveness is
an urgent priority for the Bank as a cost cutting programme
must be introduced in order to improve the Bank's
competitiveness. The PIC was designed in such a way that
there would be no adverse consequences for the workers and in
fact the plan will be of substantial benefit to the workers.
This programme is not intended to reduce jobs as is the case
in other cost reduction exercises. An independent Tribunal
recommended that the Bank should introduce such a plan and
increased the benefits and incentives to workers by #5m
resulting in a total cost of the PIC of #30m.
2. The introduction of a Bank Assistant grade is the
essential element in the Plan to Improve Competitiveness. The
duties which have been identified for the grade are the core
clerical duties which have been undertaken by the most junior
grade (Scale 1 officials) over the years. The incidence of
junior and clerical jobs has remained high over the years but
at present only 10% of workers in the Bank are on the junior
grade whereas in 1975 the relevant figure was 62% and in 1982
it was 35.8%. As a result there has been a dramatic decrease
in the amount of such work being performed by junior workers
while equally there has been an increase in the number of
Senior Bank Officials carrying out such work. Many of the
more senior workers wish to be involved in more challenging
work, the PIC will improve this situation and up to 400
promotions will arise as a direct result of implementation of
the Plan.
3. The eventual number of Bank Assistants will be 35% of
total permanent workers. This figure of 35% was established
following a statistical analysis of the volumes of work
applicable to the duties listed for Bank Assistant (details
supplied to the Court) and taking into account staff
structures, etc. It is expected that 700/800 Bank Assistants
will be recruited in the first twelve months and that the
total proportion of 35% will gradually be reached. This is
not a major upheaval and a six week training programme will be
provided which will include an overlap of four weeks with
workers leaving. In addition the Bank will reserve up to 10%
of Bank Official recruitment in any one year for suitable Bank
Assistants.
4. The pay scale proposed for Bank Assistants of #6,500 to
#10,200 per annum compares very favourably with the rates for
junior clerical work in other employments (details supplied to
the Court). It is the introduction of this new grade which
will enable the Bank to reduce costs and improve its
competitiveness. The level of pay is therefore critical to
achieving this and any improvement to the payscale proposed by
the Bank would have a serious affect on improving the Bank's
competitiveness. The Union's proposal involves no change in
the first five years of the existing junior scale and then a
relatively small change for the next five years of the scale.
The sole purpose of the Plan is to improve the Bank's
competitiveness however the Union's proposal would result in
no cost reduction for five years and a reduction by 39% of the
longer term cost reductions. The Union's proposal is
therefore unacceptable on cost grounds alone. The pension
arrangements proposed by the Bank compare favourably with
those in other companies (details supplied to the Court) and
include extra features including instant parity with serving
officials and portability.
5. The present one stream recruitment system is geared to
recruiting workers with the capacity and ability to reach
managerial rank. These are currently 580 managers and over
5,000 workers below that rank, it is not therefore possible to
fulfil the career aspirations of a large number of workers.
The present single stream recruitment system also excludes
many young school leavers with the aptitudes for a large
number of jobs in the Bank. While 35% of jobs in the Bank are
clerical the Bank must also continue to recruit workers with
the potential to reach senior management level. The Bank must
have the facility to recruit at two levels into the
organisation, this is an integral part of the plan accepted by
the Tribunal.
6. The Union has previously indicated that it had no
objection to the numbers on the grade and the duties subject
to the appropriateness of the pay scale. The remuneration
package proposed by the Bank for the Bank Assistant Grade
should be accepted and the Union should put forward the total
plan to an exclusive ballot of its members in this Bank within
the Republic of Ireland.
RECOMMENDATION:
6. The Court considers that the Bank's proposal for the
introduction of the new grade of Bank Assistant is reasonable,
particularly having regard to the imbalance arising from the
present grade structure. The new recruitment policy will enable
the Bank to bring its staff structure more in line with its work
requirements and the practice in similar employments.
Having regard to the duties expected of the new recruits the Court
recommends that the salary attaching to it should be an eleven
point scale:
#6,750 x #400 to #10,750
The Court recommends that the improvements recommended by the
independent tribunal should also apply.
All former or existing employees (temporary and part-time) who are
recruited onto the new scale at any time in the future should be
given the appropriate incremental credit on the scale.
The Court recommends, in the interest of good industrial
relations, that the Bank should accept this recommendation and
indicate its acceptance to the IBOA at an early date. The IBOA
should then put the proposal to a ballot of all its members in the
employment of the Bank of Ireland before taking any decision on
its acceptance or otherwise. Should a majority of the members
vote in favour of the recommendation, then the Court recommends
that it should be accepted by the IBOA.
The question of the pension arrangements should be the subject of
further discussion between the parties but this matter should not
hold up the implementation of the recommendations in the preceding
paragraphs of this recommendation.
~
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
John M Horgan
21st October, 1988 ---------------
U.M./U.S. Chairman
APPENDIX 1
RECOMMENDATIONS OF
TRIBUNAL HEARING OF 30TH MAY, 1988
"The Tribunal makes the following Recommendations in relation
to this dispute. The Recommendations are the unanimous
decision of the Tribunal and accordingly both parties are
encouraged to accept them.
BANK ASSISTANT GRADE
The Tribunal accepts that the Bank is entitled to introduce
a Bank Assistant Grade in order to accommodate appropriate
job categories within the Bank in the overall context of the
Bank's Plan to Improve Competitiveness.
In order to accommodate the Bank's objective to introduce
the new grade by September, 1988 the parties should
endeavour to reach agreement on the details of duties,
numbers and scale as soon as possible. Any matters
unresolved should be referred back to the Tribunal for
decision forthwith and not later than 31st August, 1988
ELEMENTS OF THE PLAN TO IMPROVE COMPETITIVENESS
The Plan to Improve Competitiveness should proceed subject
to the following amendments.
Voluntary Parting Scheme
The lump sum should be increased to 5 weeks pay per year of
service, inclusive of any statutory redundancy entitlements,
up to a maximum of 24 months salary.
Optional Early Retirement
The lump sum of #6,000 payable to individuals availing of
optional early retirement should be increased to #7,000.
Remaining Staff
Those staff who do not opt for either voluntary parting or
optional early retirement should receive a lump sum payment
of 4% of pensionable salary for constructively facilitating
the implementation of the plan."
APPENDIX 2
TYPICAL DUTIES FOR BANK ASSISTANTS
Typing
Telephone
Filing
Cash Keeping
Assist with Night Safe Wallets
Commercial/Priority/Express Lodgements
Cheque filing (Pickings list)
Statements (issue, duplicates etc)
Assist with morning letter examination/reject re-entries
Remittances (debit, credit, foreign, access)
Batch/terminal input
Microfilm
Post
General Enquiries (e.g. cheque enquiries, balance of account,
standing orders)
Customer Service - opening personal accounts, enquiries
Order Cheque books
Complete lodgement dockets for incoming post
Unpaid cheques entries and records
Issue cheque books
Prepare interest certificates
Service Pass machines
Computer data assistant
- e.g. balance computer rejections, call amendment
report, call journal, call stops control
General assistance as required
- e.g. returns, form filling, abstraction of data
etc.
NOTES:
1. This list which relates to current activities is intended as
a guide; it is not absolute. The duties will change from
time to time as a consequence of developments such as changes
in systems, procedures, products, technology, legislation
etc.
2. The combination and range of duties will vary depending on
the profile/size of the Branch/Department.
DUTIES WHICH BANK OFFICIALS WILL CONTINUE TO PERFORM
Selling of products and particularly the more detailed/complex
products - e.g. term deposits, some lending products
Customer Service
Deputising for Officer or Assistant Manager
Computer Reports Control
- Computer rejections, amendments, administration
control, stops, PASS, Standing Order Control etc
Cash Keeping
Safe Keeping
Unpaids Inwards
Special Presentations
Queries and instructions from accountants
Money Book entries
Lending
- Securities, Analysis, Reports, Follow up,
Interviews, Dictation, Bad Debts, Home Loans,
Personal Loans, Refers
New Standing Orders
New Direct Debits
Direct Debit Recalls
Control of Plastic Cards
- applications to relevant centre
- Cheque cards, Pass Cards, Eurocheques, Access etc
Commercial Foreign Exchange
Opening of non-personal accounts
Pass
- hot card file, captured cards, reconciliation of
reports
Other General Duties as required.
NOTES:
1. This list which relates to current activities is intended as a
guide; it is not absolute. The duties will change from time to
time as a consequence of developments such as changes in
systems, procedures, products, technology, legislation etc.
2. The combination and range of duties will vary depending on the
profile/size of the Branch/Department. In some instances the
combination of duties will incorporate some Bank Assistant
duties.
3. In addition Bank Officials will be required to train on and be
competent in all routine tasks and may be required to
substitute for Bank Assistants from time to time.
4. In Departments the range of duties for Bank Officials will be
different from and in addition to those performed by Bank
Assistants in these Departments. The specific duties may vary
from Department to Department. Consequently these departmental
duties are not specifically detailed in the list above. The
level of duties assigned to Bank Assistants in individual
Departments will be consistent with the level of the duties set
out above.