Job losses @ Ulster Bank........

1966

..............this is their second jobs cull since 2009.....how come Irish Banks havn't cut staff yet in view of their bailouts...............

Pablo Sanchez

A valid point. The unions are well in with them. AIB and BOI want to lay off up to 2000 staff but the unions have been negotiating terms with them for a long time now. There will be lay offs before year end though.

unclebill98

Unions are the reason for the lack of cuts in aib and boi. Staff have been told for the last two years there coming but unions and the banks can't agree.

As for UB, pretty much left the unions with no choice. Last round of lay offs came with a very attractive package and was over subscribed. They where also voluntary.

In all fairness the same will happen with aib and boi, plenty of folks wanna leave but will not leave with nothing and are holding out for some sort of package.

dotsman

unclebill98 wrote: »

Unions are the reason for the lack of cuts in aib and boi. Staff have been told for the last two years there coming but unions and the banks can't agree.

As for UB, pretty much left the unions with no choice. Last round of lay offs came with a very attractive package and was over subscribed. They where also voluntary.

In all fairness the same will happen with aib and boi, plenty of folks wanna leave but will not leave with nothing and are holding out for some sort of package.

Your forgetting politicans/media/mob in that mix.

Ultimately, the reason why AIB (especially) haven't done the massive layoffs is that the politicians won't let them offer anything decent for a voluntary redundancy as they are afraid of what the media/mob might say. On the other hand, how do you get 2,000 to voluntarily give up their jobs in today's job market without offering a decent package? In the meantime, between a hiring freeze for the past 4 years and large amounts of people retiring/resigning over that time period has seen the employee numbers drop greatly. By the time the various parties actually agree on a figure, they may have met the 2,000 figure through natural attrition!

Given that AIB has re-introduced some promotions at the lower levels in the past few months might be the beginning of this - promote people you definitely want to keep, don't promote most, hoping that a good few will be pissed off enough they will just take a poor redundancy offer be gone from the place.

For BOI, I'm not so sure. As the government are only minority shareholders, you would feel that the bank have greater control over the redundancy package, but maybe they are just being cheap!

It will be interesting to see the details of Ulster bank's redundancies tomorrow. Hopefully it will be good enough that it remains voluntary like the first round.

patwicklow

This is just the start of it mark my words...

unclebill98

Good point.

Seems that may be a sticky point for aib.

In both banks there are plenty of staff waiting for that golden hand shake and are willing to hold on.

I'm pretty sure the lay offs will be voluntary.

phormium

Interestingly enough though UB have recruited since their last round of redundancies and very quickly afterwards too. My local branch took on 2 new staff.

unclebill98

phormium wrote: »

Interestingly enough though UB have recruited since their last round of redundancies and very quickly afterwards too. My local branch took on 2 new staff.

Redundancy can help a business get rid of there most expensive staff.

Someone with 20-30 years service could be costing the same as 3 new entrants. So get rid of one, hire 2 and still save.

Tis business.

phormium

That only works if redundancies are compulsory though as you cannot ensure only the higher paid apply in a voluntary redundancy situation.

I like a bit of experience in my bank staff when I am talking about investing large sums of money or borrowing them. Maybe there isn't enough grey hair in UB after all the clearouts of past years!

unclebill98

Im 100% sure it will be over subscribed, so they will have there pick of staff to get rid off. High earners, long term sick leavers and problem folk.

Then again they could opt not to pay problem folk with the hope they'd leave anyhow.

As for the grey hairers! New regulations mean everyone must be suitably qualified to advise you on products, so you don't need grey hair :-)

phormium

QFA! Wouldn't consider that sufficient, I have that myself, read a few books and answer mainly multiple choice questions! Passed one of the exams without even reading said book. Can't beat a bit of some personal money management and life experience though.

I would be surprised if it was over subscribed in the present environment, there are no jobs out there for ex bankers and only someone who can afford to give up work entirely would in my opinion go for it or younger staff who may be thinking of emigrating, lump sum would come in handy then.

Where are the surplus workers? My local branch always seems to be under staffed especially since the Saturday opening and there is usually several days to wait to get an appointment. Are the business centres going to be slimmed down maybe? Dunno what they are filling their days with these days.

unclebill98

Lol, yeah qfa is a pile of crap but then again it'd fpm who gives advise and generally are more educated.

Well it's going to a few hundred staff, doubt it's much front line. Business centres, manufacturing and other depts will be hit. They may seek to close smaller branches and sub offices which are better off closing to staff nearer larger branches etc.

mikemac1

phormium wrote: »

I would be surprised if it was over subscribed in the present environment, there are no jobs out there for ex bankers

They could head to the funds industry

Cork and Dublin being the main places but Kilkenny and Dundalk have businesses too

phormium

Still a bit limited jobswise for the greater part of Ireland, if they are looking to lose some in the branches there is a lot of them in more small towns where there is nothing doing. I will still be surprised if it is possible to achieve these numbers voluntarily, although a lot of UB staff were refused last time round as FA staff were the preferred loss due to I imagine their better salaries at the time.