A Labour Court hearing into the dispute over pensions at Bank Of Ireland has taken place. The Amicus trade union is the second union to take a case to the court over the bank's decision to implement a new pension scheme for new staff.
Unions claim the scheme is less favourable but the Bank Of Ireland has said it will not go back on its decision to implement the new scheme last October.
A spokesperson for Amicus said the climate for pensions had changed considerably since the dispute began. Gerry Shanahan said agreements had been reached with a number of other employers and there was a solution to the dispute at Bank Of Ireland.
Amicus has already staged a one-day strike but further action was postponed pending the Labour Court hearing.
A spokesperson for Bank Of Ireland said it firmly believed the decision it had taken to introduce a new pension scheme was socially responsible and it would continue to offer it to new staff members. The new scheme involves changes from a defined benefit to a hybrid scheme which unions claim is inferior.
