Staff at National Irish Bank (NIB) are in line for significant pay rises over the next 2½ years and a shortened working week.
Under recommendations published yesterday by independent chairman Kevin Foley, 670 employees at NIB, which is owned by Danske Bank, will have their working week cut from 35.6 hours to 35 hours.
This means that their working day will now run from 9am to 5pm.
Staff currently work until 5.15pm each evening.
The deal means that staff at all four of the main banks in Ireland will now work 35-hour weeks.
Workers will also receive a pay rise of 2 per cent on February 1st, 2008 in addition to the increase due under the current national wage deal, Towards 2016.
Mr Foley has also recommended that staff should receive an "organisation" payment of 4 per cent a year for the next 2½ years. This would take effect on July 1st.
In addition, he has made recommendations on bonus schemes for individuals, teams operating in the branch network, head office staff and employees in its business banking arm.
Mr Foley, director of the conciliation services division at the Labour Relations Commission, also said the two sides should review pension arrangements at the bank, with this process to be completed by July 31st.
He said any outstanding disagreement on pensions should be referred back to him.
Mr Foley said the two sides should also enter discussions about NIB's plan to open 15 new branches here by 2009.
He said staff at the bank should have their contracts of employment transferred from the Irish entity to Danske without any diminution of their entitlements.
The recommendations were welcomed by both NIB and the Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA), which represents the staff.
NIB said the recommendations "pave the way for further change initiatives".
Larry Broderick, the IBOA's general secretary, described the recommendations as a major development for NIB workers.
"This will substantially boost our members' incomes and go some way towards compensating for the low wage increases allocated under Towards 2016, which have been totally eroded by rising inflation," Mr Broderick said.
The IBOA said it was "committed" to working with NIB to ensure the bank "continues to improve its performance and competitive position in Ireland".
The IBOA will ballot its members on the proposals in the coming days.
Danske took control of NIB in April 2005. NIB operates 59 branches and 13 business banking centres.
NIB recently reported a 55 per cent increase in total lending in the first quarter.
Its total income increased by 28 per cent to €43 million, while loans and advances stood at €7.6 billion.
The bank's pretax profit was €5.4 million compared with a loss of a similar size for the opening three months of 2006.
