Irish bank staff confidence falling

Staff at Irish banks have a chronic lack of confidence in management of the banks, according to a new survey released on Monday. The survey conducted by the UNITE trade union also showed only one in seven bank employees feel confident about their own job security. The poll of almost 1,000 UNITE members working at Bank of Ireland, Irish Life and Permanent TSB and EBS also revealed over 75 percent felt uncomfortable taking action asked of them by management in relation to customers in the past year. Over 60 percent of staff who are UNITE members said they did not have confidence in the management of their company, while 57 percent do not enjoy working in the current environment at banks. Some 64 percent said they were not confident of security in their jobs while over 83 percent said they were concerned about their pension schemes. More than half of frontline bank workers would back industrial action over plummeting confidence in their bosses, the survey signaled. When asked if they would support a coordinated campaign of escalating industrial action in defense of their job conditions and security, almost 53 percent responded in favor. Just over 16 percent of the banks employees in the survey ruled out industrial action with almost a third undecided. UNITE carried out the survey in the week ending last Tuesday. The union has around 5,000 members working at Bank of Ireland, Irish Life and Permanent TSB and EBS, and around 20 percent of those responded to the online poll.