Amicus irked over job losses in Norwich-RAC merger; applies to tribunal

Amicus irked over job losses in Norwich-RAC merger; applies to tribunal

	Published : Tue, 16 Aug 2005 13:05 By : Cedric Benson Print this Story

Trade union Amicus reacted strongly to insurer Norwich Union’s decision to close two call centres and cut 345 jobs. The trade union which represents skilled and technical workers, said Aviva the owners of Norwich Union was showing cavalier disregard to the effect of the job cuts on the livelihoods of its loyal staff.

A union spokesperson said “Aviva has flouted redundancy law” by not consulting with the staff and the union over the job cuts.

The call centres scheduled for closure were at Darlington - employing 210, and Morecambe with a staff strength of 120. Another 15 jobs would be axed from its back offices in Bristol and Feltham. Both the call centres are part of the RAC motoring group which Norwich acquired for £1.1bn in March this year.

A spokesperson for Norwich Union denied that his organization was violating any labour laws. The 90-day consultation period, as required, commenced yesterday with the insurer informing its staff about its decision to close the two call centres.

The spokesperson added that Aviva had already warned in March when it took over RAC, that it aimed to merge the two groups Norwich Union and RAC into one workforce; and would consequently create 1700 redundancies. The insurer hopes to cut costs by as much as £80m through these redundancies. The job cuts at Darlington and Morecambe are in line with that plan.

The insurer is expected to make a further 1370 job cuts after the two call centres are closed down. Of these 800 jobs will be moved to its offshore operations in Asia where it already employs thousands of call centre staff.

Trade union Amicus said it would take the case to the employment tribunal and seek protective award of extra 90 days’ pay for the affected employees.