The Bank of Ireland and the Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA) have agreed to invite a mediator to act as independent chairman to facilitate costcutting talks at the bank.
The CEO of the Labour Relations Commission, Kieran Mulvey, is to be approached for the task.
Pending the conclusion of those negotiations, the bank has agreed to defer implementation of the proposals, which would see the loss of up to 2,100 jobs over the next four years.
The discussions are aimed at reaching agreement within what is described as an early timeframe.
Arriving for the meeting between the IBOA and BoI management today, the IBOA General Secretary said that while bank staff were not opposed to change, such change must be negotiated, and there must be no compulsory redundancies.
Larry Broderick also warned that if the bank tried to force through the plan without agreement, there would be industrial action.
The bank had hoped to achieve up to 1,200 redundancies over the next 12 months, with the remaining 800 positions being cut over the following three years.
