Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said it is “not unjustified” for EBS Ltd. not to pay a “bonus” to staff, following the country’s bailout of its lenders.

EBS staff that are members of the Unite labor union voted “overwhelmingly” in favor of strike action during Christmas week because of the Dublin-based lender’s decision to withhold a Christmas payment to workers, Unite said Dec. 13. Noonan asked workers to reconsider their strike action in parliament today.

Ireland has injected 20.7 billion euros into Allied Irish Banks Plc and EBS, which merged in July.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Brennan in Dublin at jbrennan29@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Finbarr Flynn at fflynn3@bloomberg.net