April 23, 2003
(Computerworld)
Union members of the IT department at the Bank of Ireland have threatened to go on strike if they aren't represented in contract negotiations with Hewlett-Packard Co. over a proposed $600 million, seven-year outsourcing deal (see story).
Earlier this month, the Dublin-based bank announced plans to outsource its IT infrastructure activities -- including its desktop, midrange, mainframe and network environments -- to HP. The deal would affect 500 workers at Bank of Ireland ITSIS, the bank's IT arm, where roughly one-third of the staffers are members of the Irish Bank Officials' Association (IBOA).
On April 16, 83% of IBOA's members who participated in a vote agreed to give the bank two weeks' notice of "industrial action," which includes the threat of an all-out strike. The vote was taken to prevent the Bank of Ireland from proceeding with an outsourcing arrangement with HP unless there are "full negotiations and agreement" from the union, according to IBOA's Web site.
Anne Mathews, a spokeswoman for the Bank of Ireland, said the bank "couldn't have meaningful discussions" with IBOA "until a preferred provider had been selected." She added that contract negotiations with HP will continue during the next four to six months and that IBOA will have a voice in those discussions.
Officials from the Bank of Ireland and IBOA met yesterday in their first round of talks since the contract was signed earlier this month.
Calls to IBOA General Secretary Larry Broderick weren't returned by press time. But on IBOA's Web site, Broderick is quoted as saying that the union's notice of industrial action against the bank "testifies to the huge concern and uncertainty" among Bank of Ireland ITSIS staffers.
In a research note posted to Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc.'s Web site on April 18, analyst Diane Morello wrote that the threat of a strike by Bank of Ireland's IT workers "is among the first instances of what Gartner expects to be more IT employee action in protest of what they perceive as unsettled employment situations" due to corporate job cuts and an increase in the amount of IT work being sent offshore or granted to contract and temporary workers.