PTSB agrees 4.7% pay increase for staff with Mandate and Financial Services Union

Pay offer covers 2024 and will be put to a ballot of staff

PTSB chief executive Eamonn Crowley. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times
PTSB chief executive Eamonn Crowley. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times

PTSB has reached agreement with Mandate and the Financial Services Union (FSU) to give staff a 4.7 per cent pay increase for 2024. It is understood no deal has yet been struck with Unite, which represents some employees at the majority State-owned lender.

The pay offer was agreed between the bank and the unions at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and follows months of negotiations between the sides. It will now be put to a ballot of staff represented by the two unions over the next two weeks.

The pay increase is backdated to January 2024.

While higher than deals negotiated with AIB and Bank of Ireland, the offer is well below the 13 per cent that Unite had signalled it wanted for its members. The WRC had been asked to mediate on the pay dispute last month.

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Gareth Murphy, head of industrial relations and campaigns at the FSU, said he was “glad” to have reached agreement on a pay deal.

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PTSB staff have worked incredibly hard over the last year and [are] contributing significantly to the positive financial results the bank recently announced. We believe, relative to other pay deals in the sector and cognisant of the position of this bank, that this is a really good proposal, which our negotiating team supports.”

He added that the FSU would engage with the bank “on pay ranges later this year if these proposals [are] accepted by members”.

No comment was available from the bank.

At Bank of Ireland, staff received a 4 per cent pay increase for 2024, along with other benefits, including a health insurance allowance.

In 2022, the FSU struck a deal with AIB for a 10 per cent increase in pay over three years. Last year, that was topped up with a package of supports to help employees deal with the cost-of-living crisis.

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock is Business Editor of The Irish Times