A review of the partnership process is to be sought by the Irish Bank Officials' Association after an overwhelming vote by its members to reject the new national pay deal.
The union announced yesterday that 98 per cent of members who took part in a ballot on the deal had voted to reject it, in line with a recommendation from its executive.
The IBOA will now vote against ratification of the agreement at a special delegate conference next week of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The deal, agreed in June in talks between employers, unions and the Government, offers most workers a 5.5 per cent pay increase in three phases over 18 months.
Workers earning €9 per hour or less, or a maximum of €351 a week, would receive an additional half per cent.
The terms were described as "paltry" yesterday by the IBOA general secretary, Mr Larry Broderick, who said the "massive and unprecedented" vote against the deal reflected the anger of the union's members.
"It also illustrates the growing frustration among bank staff at the over-concentration on public sector issues during the pay negotiations to the detriment of the private sector," he said.
"It would appear that the sacrifices workers in the private sector made to create the 'Celtic Tiger' have been forgotten by the Government, the 'social partners' and opinion-formers."
Mr Broderick said that in voting to reject the deal, IBOA members were mindful of the record profits made by the banks and the "exorbitant salaries" of senior management, while staff incomes were "barely keeping pace with inflation".
He criticised the fact that the deal, which covers the remaining 18 months of the Sustaining Progress partnership programme, did not have a local bargaining clause.
This would allow unions in profitable sectors, such as the banking industry, to negotiate higher pay increases.
In light of the scale of the vote against the deal, the IBOA would be seeking a review within the ICTU "of the whole future of national wage agreements".
SIPTU, the State's biggest union, will complete its ballot on the deal this week. The outcome is likely to have a crucial bearing on whether the ICTU ratifies the agreement at next week's conference.
