AIB Job Cuts 'Outrageous Blow'

The 1,400 bank workers at First Trust in Northern Ireland are today worried about their future following an announcement that at least 2,000 more jobs are to be axed by its parent business AIB Group by the end of 2012.

The move has been called "an outrageous blow" to staff, according to Larry Broderick, General Secretary of IBOA, the Finance Union.

He said: "AIB staff are in a profound state of shock at the magnitude of the job reductions being demanded by the Executive Chairman in his restructuring plan - especially since AIB has already shed around 2,000 jobs since the onset of the financial crisis in the autumn of 2008.

"Once they get over the initial shock, I am certain that our members will be very angry that they are being made to pay the price for the reckless mismanagement of the bank by an elite group of bosses - many of whom have long since left the institution with extremely generous golden handshakes to see them comfortably into retirement.

"The ordinary staff in AIB are in no way responsible for the bank's disastrous predicament. But it appears that many of them will now be sacrificed in a crude attempt to resolve it," he fumed.

The General Secretary added: "The lack of detail in this morning's announcement will intensify the sense of uncertainty about their future. IBOA will seek much greater transparency and clarification about the Bank's precise intentions in the interests of both staff and customers.

"These staff are more than collateral damage: they are hard working men and women with families who are facing a very bleak future with few immediate opportunities for re-employment within the financial service sector in this country," he continued.

"We will also seek a commitment from the Executive Chairman to honour the terms and conditions of continuing staff and to enter into comprehensive negotiations with us on any redeployment and transfers that may arise from the restructuring of the business."

AIB Group employment numbers worldwide are down to around 15,000 since the sale of its Polish operation, down from 24,000 at the end of 2009.

Of these 15,000, 12,500 are employed in the Irish Republic, 1,400 in First Trust in Northern Ireland, and the remainder, about 1,000, in Great Britain.

For last year, the bank reported a total loss for the group of 10.2bn euros (£9.2bn), compared with 2.3bn euros (£2bn) in 2009.

It was once Ireland's largest bank but is now 92.8% state-owned and needs another €13.3bn (£11.7 bn) bailout after the results of long-awaited 'stress tests'.

AIB and EBS Building Society will also soon merge to form one banking 'pillar', while Bank of Ireland will form the second.

(BMcN/GK)