Barclays faces action over pay

Barclays is facing a campaign of industrial action in a "rapidly escalating" dispute over pay. The bank's two unions have agreed to co-ordinate action, which is likely to include an overtime ban and a work-to-rule, after the "collapse" of talks. Barclays turned down a union request to take a dispute over a new performance-related scheme to the conciliation service Acas, arguing that it had already made substantial modifications to its original proposals.

Jim Lowe, assistant secretary of the Banking Insurance and Finance Union (Bifu), complained: "This from a bank that is expected to announce half- yearly profits of more than pounds 1bn later this week." Bifu and the Barclays union UNiFI said that the new pay scheme would reduce the amount of money the bank puts into staff salaries. The two unions have decided to co- ordinate action, although no date has been fixed for it to start.