The chief executive of AIB has written to all employees at the bank telling them the bank plans to switch them to a defined contribution pension scheme.
This development would affect 6,500 staff but is to be resisted by the IBOA trade union, which said that workers at the bank had already made enough sacrifices.
AIB is also planning to cut the pay of senior managers and executives, freeze staff salaries and cut pension costs, chief executive David Duffy said in the staff e-mail today.
The bank's executive committee will cut their salary and pay-related allowances by 15% from August.
Other executives are facing a 10% cut and senior managers a 7.5% reduction, Duffy said in the e-mail, which was obtained by RTE News.
"With regard to all other staff, we are engaged in discussions with unions on a proposal for a potential general pay freeze until end-2014," Mr Duffy said.
He also said the bank intends to move all employees onto defined contribution pension schemes, where retirement benefits are linked to the performance of funds, from defined-benefit payments, linked to final pay levels.
The head of the IBOA trade union, Larry Broderick, said the union was rejecting measures affecting ordinary workers. He said AIB staff had already made significant sacrifices as the bank had cut costs over the last few years.
The AIB boss also told staff that plans are now being finalised on the future structure of AIB group which should be clearer by the end of this month or early next month. The IBOA said it had agreed to meet the AIB management for a comprehensive update next month. The union said that both parties want the talks to be concluded by September on all aspects of the bank's plans.
The AIB chief executive told staff in the email that the very difficult but necessary measures that management are taking will help it achieve sustainable profitability and attract external investment into the bank.
''We believe that the combination of these measures and the planned investment in the growth of our business will allow us create a successful bank that we can be proud to work for,'' he added.
AIB staff to lose company car and gym perks
Staff at AIB are set to lose perks including company cars, gym subscriptions and preferential deposit rates under the latest round of cost reductions announced today.
The company is already engaged in seeking 2500 redundancies from its 14,500 workforce. When all cutbacks are added together, AIB hopes to eliminate €200m euro from its cost base.
Up to now, people employed before November 2011 were entitled to claim reimbursement of one sports and social club subscription for single membership in any one year. The amounts varied from half to full reimbursement of the fee - and the average gross refund was €560.
Staff had to pay full tax on all such payments which was deducted through the bank's payroll system. The allowance known as the 'club sub' allowance ran from a maximum for senior management of €2,500 to €1250 for other staff. 50% could be claimed back.
Around a quarter of staff availed of the benefit last year. However, the perk will be abolished from July 1. The preferential rate on deposits for staff will be eliminated from September 1.
Company cars or cash in lieu will be discontinued from January, and will be absorbed into a non-pensionable allowance. However, it is understood staff may be given the option to buy the car.
It is expected that all of these measures announced today will save more than €30m. When added to the savings of €170m anticipated from the redundancy scheme, AIB is expected to achieve reductions in its cost base of around €200m.
