Jobs lost in telecoms and finance
Updated on 10 November 2009
Hopes of a recovery from recession suffered a double blow with news of 5,700 job losses in the telecoms and finance sectors sending shockwaves through communities hit by the cuts.
Lloyds Banking Group announced that 5,000 jobs will go in 2010, on top of 10,000 slashed this year, under continued cost cutting, while Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson said it will close a site in Coventry with the loss of 700 jobs.
The double hit came ahead of new jobless figures which are expected to show another increase, taking youth unemployment close to the one million mark.
Lloyds said 5,000 jobs will be hit by changes within its group operations, insurance and retail divisions by the end of 2010. The bank said the cuts will be "significantly mitigated" by redeployment and the release of contractors, temporary staff and offshore employees. "Taking these mitigating actions into account means there will be a net reduction of about 2,600 permanent jobs across the UK by the end of 2010," the bank said in a statement.
Mark Fisher, Group Integration Director, said: "Today marks another important step in bringing our businesses together. In addition, our commitment is to keep colleagues fully informed about our integration plans. We will continue to work closely with our colleagues affected by today's announcement to help them through these changes over the coming year. We have mitigated the impact on positions through redeployment and the release of contractors and temporary staff."
Rob MacGregor, national officer of Unite, said: "This announcement demonstrates the depth of corporate arrogance within this taxpayer-supported bank. This country's financial sector should be looking towards the future rather than continuing to slash jobs without proper consideration of how to re-build the public's confidence in our tarnished banking sector.
"Today marks the start of another dark week for finance workers. It beggars belief that, just days after 5,400 jobs were cut in RBS and HSBC, we see further devastation for workers in this part-nationalised financial institution."
Ged Nichols, general secretary of Accord, the union representing the largest number of former HBOS employees now working in Lloyds, said: "Today's announcement is terrible news for the employees who are affected and their families. We always recognised that some job losses were inevitable as Lloyds TSB integrated HBOS operations but the scale of changes announced will leave many staff in shock.
"Some of those who are affected will have a long wait before anything definite happens and they may find the uncertainty very difficult to cope with."
Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable said: "This announcement is a direct result of Lloyds taking over the poisoned chalice that is HBOS. The takeover was a political decision to avoid total nationalisation and people are now paying for it with their jobs. If we are to have a stable and competitive private banking market, Lloyds Banking Group will have to be broken into several parts when it is eventually re-privatised. It is a terrible irony that many of these job losses are because operations merged in the first place."
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