The Financial Services Union (FSU) said on Thursday it had instructed its members at Bank of Ireland to maintain their current hybrid working arrangements until an agreement can be reached with the company on increased attendance requirements announced last month.
The changes, which involve a requirement that employees who qualify for hybrid working be on-site at least eight times a month, are due to come into effect on September 1st.
Currently, there is no company-wide mandate with individual team leaders having considerable influence over their own arrangements and there is, the union says, a lot of flexibility.
The “unilateral” nature of the announcement of new requirements was criticised by the union which said on Thursday the company was in “serious breach of our collective bargaining agreement”.
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In response, however, Bank of Ireland said “the FSU does not have negotiating rights on this issue”.
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The FSU disputes this saying the issue is covered by a “change management agreement” between the two sides.
Speaking on Thursday, the union’s general secretary, John O’Connell, said “the bank has failed to engage in any meaningful way with the FSU, and with a proposed start date of September 1st has left us with no option but to escalate this matter”.
“The FSU are asking our members in BOI to continue their current working practices and not to agree to any changes from the bank that would affect their working model until full negotiations are exhausted between the bank and the FSU.”
He said the performance of the bank since flexible working arrangements became widespread at the start of the pandemic was “a testament to the productivity and professionalism of BOI staff”.
“This situation can be resolved by the bank acting in good faith and entering into meaningful discussions with the FSU,” he said.
In a statement, Bank of Ireland said its hybrid working model was “very flexible, allowing our people work from home and office locations”.
These locations include central office buildings in Dublin 4, Cabinteely, Tallaght and Kilkenny and a network of 14 hubs spread across Louth, Cork, Kildare, Wexford, Limerick, Galway, Mullingar and various Dublin locations, the bank said.
“Our commitment to hybrid working is unchanged, and operating in this way ensures our approach is enduring. We are very confident the majority of our people see this as a very fair approach which balances personal working preferences with the needs of our customers, colleagues and the company as a whole.”
The FSU is currently in talks with AIB over its recent announcement that staff qualifying for hybrid working will have to attend the office three days a week from the start of next year.
The union said it had met with management this week and talks are expected to take place against next week.
