Norwich Union announce further job losses
The end of an efficiency drive held at the offices of Aviva has resulted in Norwich Union revealing that it intended to cut 1,700 jobs in the UK by the end of the year.
The Norwich Union name will be discontinued and once current job vacancies have been cancelled and staff redeployment has been completed around 800 permanent staff would unfortunately be surplus to requirement. IT and “business change” departments will both be heavily affected by the cuts.
Mark Hodges, the Norwich Union Life chief executive, said that the loses were “unfortunate but inevitable” having caused the unions to voice their anger at the job losses, he further added “Our priority is to work further with everyone affected by today’s announcement and to support them however we can”.
Unite, the trade union that dominates the banking sector said it had been informed that Aviva’s York and Norwich offices would take the brunt of the losses. Derek Simpson, the joint general secretary said “Today we see a scenario where a company that is continuing to deliver positive results is slashing the staff that have enabled them to weather the current financial storm”. Earlier this month Aviva reported a bumper post-tax annual loss of £7.7 billion with an increase in operating profits, using a new accounting standard.
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