ABN Amro chief executive Rijkman Groenink, critical of RBOS's break-up bid for the Dutch bank while calling a deal with Barclays �fantastic�, does not figure in the committee to weigh the competing offers.

ABN Amro chief executive Rijkman Groenink, who has criticised Royal Bank of Scotland's break-up bid for the Dutch bank while calling a friendly deal with Barclays "fantastic", does not figure in the committee formed to weigh the competing offers.

In line with the wishes of ABN shareholders sympathetic to the higher 71bn (£48bn) bid from Royal and its partners Santander and Fortis, ABN revealed yesterday that its chairman, Arthur Martinez, would chair a "transaction committee" created to consider the competing bids from this consortium and Barclays.

Groenink's failure to figure on this committee is likely to have been the key feature noted by Royal in ABN's response yesterday to the consortium bid tabled on Tuesday.

As well as expressing disquiet over the break-up nature of Royal's bid, Groenink also stood up Royal chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin on April 23. The pair were to meet in Amsterdam on that day but Groenink flew instead to London to present the agreed offer from Barclays, which was worth 64bn last night.

The Royal consortium meanwhile achieved a breakthrough yesterday on the important mainland European social front when backing for its bid came from the entirely unexpected direction of a Dutch trade union. The support from the negotiator for Netherlands union De Unie, Gerwin van der Lie, was interesting given that the consortium is planning to break up ABN and rival bidder Barclays is aiming to create an enlarged Amsterdam-based bank.

Van der Lie made it plain he was far more concerned about the number of job losses in the respective bids.

His comments are particularly interesting given Groenink has cited social factors in supporting the much lower Barclays bid.

Groenink told ABN's annual meeting last month: "Price isn't the only thing that counts. As human beings and responsible citizens, we have the obligation to look farther than the last quarter."

Van der Lei said that, if the consortium took over ABN, it would cut between 17,000 and 19,000 jobs in total, including 7500 in the Netherlands. The consortium, when it tabled its formal offer on Tuesday, did not put an exact figure on total job losses but the numbers cited by Van der Lei appear in the right ballpark.

Yesterday's supportive comments from De Unie mark a dramatic volte-face. The union earlier this month warned that the consortium bid could bring 34,000 job losses, including 11,000 in Holland.

Van der Lei said yesterday: "I am more optimistic about the consortium. Looking at the promises, I expect that we can come to an agreement about a social plan for employees."

Goodwin talked on Tuesday about job losses being "some thousands short" of the numbers in Barclays' proposal. Barclays and ABN said last month that their deal would trigger 23,600 job losses - with about half of these posts shifted offshore.

Jean-Paul Votron, chief executive of Belgian-Dutch insurer and bank Fortis, talked on Tuesday of about 6000 job losses in the ABN Netherlands banking business which his company would take in a break-up. ABN's Dutch operations also include corporate banking and financial market activities which would be taken by Royal, and a consumer finance business which Spanish bank Santander would acquire.

Groenink has annoyed some ABN shareholders, including The Children's Investment Fund (TCI), by lining up a deal to sell the Dutch bank's US subsidiary, LaSalle, to Bank of America for $21bn (£10.6bn).

This side-deal is viewed widely as a "poison pill" aimed at warding off the Royal consortium, with LaSalle a key rationale for the Scottish bank pulling together the consortium bid for ABN. It has led to the whole takeover battle becoming caught up in a whirlwind of court actions.

Christopher Hohn, chief investment officer of UK hedge fund TCI, said in a letter to Martinez about a month ago that he should "immediately terminate" Groenink's appointment as chairman of the Dutch bank's managing board and take control of the sale process himself.

Hohn added: "We fear that Mr Groenink has no intention to negotiate in good faith with the RBS consortium. We believe that Mr Groenink no longer has any credibility as the chairman of the managing board, and has failed to act in the best interests of shareholders."

Netherlands shareholder group VEB said on May 3, after having the LaSalle sale frozen by the Dutch Commercial Court pending a vote on the deal by shareholders which ABN still hopes to avoid, that Groenink should go within 24 hours.

ABN's transaction committee comprises Martinez and two other members of the Dutch bank's supervisory board, vice-chairman André Olijslager, and Rob van den Bergh.

Although Groenink's absence from the committee may signal a warmer reception for the consortium, ABN has in the past looked as if it might be entertaining the efforts to offer its shareholders a higher price but then turned the Royal camp down cold. This happened in early May when it invited the consortium to make a separate bid for LaSalle.

The consortium exceeded Bank of America's bid with a $24.5bn offer for LaSalle but this was rejected swiftly because it was conditional on the success of an offer for the whole of ABN.

ABN said yesterday: "The managing board and the super- visory board will carefully consider the proposed offer and examine its implications for ABN Amro, its shareholders and all other stakeholders.

"In doing so, both boards will comply with their fiduciary responsibilities under Dutch law and with ABN Amro's contractual obligations towards both Barclays plc and Bank of America Corporation.

"The transaction committee will liaise with the managing board and key staff and advisers of the bank on an ongoing basis on all matters with respect to the recommended offer by Barclays...and with respect to the proposed offer ... by the consortium..."

ABN claimed the managing board "welcomes the initiative of the supervisory board to further increase its involvement".

Royal would, under the break-up plan, acquire ABN's North American business, notably LaSalle, the vast bulk of the Dutch bank's global corporate banking and financial markets activities, and operations in Asia. Its share of the deal would be about 27bn (£18.5bn).