UNITE UNION MEMBERS are to pursue industrial action after the Institute of Chartered Accountants today served notices of dismissal on 11 staff at the body.

The staff were notified of their redundancy this afternoon, and are to be paid salary contributions in lieu of their notice.

Unite accounts for just over 40 of the 100 staff at the body, and this evening the staff voted “overwhelmingly” to commence protests over the changes.

The union’s regional officer Claire Keane claimed the savings being made by the redundancies amounted to €210,000 a year, which was less than two-thirds of the salary paid to the institute’s CEO.

“This is a terrible abuse of lower paid staff members who are having their livelihoods ended while senior management in the organisation sail on without a care,” she said.

“The Institute has refused to meet at the Labour Relations Commission, or to row back on the decision and enter consultation.”

The union is to protest outside the institute’s offices on Pearse Street tomorrow, with further protests planned for next Tuesday.