Difficult day for Ulster Bank staff as hundreds face redundancy

Skilled staff should not be lost to the banking sector – says FSU.

The announcement by Ulster Bank that a further 813 bank staff are to be made redundant over the coming twelve months has been described as a sad and difficult day for workers and their families by Gareth Murphy, Head of Industrial Relations, and Campaigns with the Financial Services Union.

Ulster Bank have today announced a further 813 redundancies as part to their overall withdrawal process.

Ulster Bank had previously announced 800 redundancies with those staff currently exiting the Bank.

Commenting on the announcement Gareth Murphy, Head of Industrial Relations and Campaigns with the FSU said :

“Today is a sad and difficult day for all Ulster Bank staff and their families who have given so much to the Bank and its customers over many years.

As a Union, throughout this difficult process we have managed to secure improved redundancy terms and protected jobs with staff transferring to other Banks . We will continue to support our members over the coming days and months.

These are very skilled, professional staff, who know and understand the financial needs of business and people. It is important their knowledge and skillsets are not lost to the wider  financial services sector.

There are shortages of staff throughout all the remaining retail banks.

There can be no excuses offered or accepted for any retail bank to say they are having problems recruiting trained staff. This would be an opportune time for Banks to seek to recruit and hire the skilled staff currently exiting Ulster Bank.”

ENDS