INSURER AVIVA was unable to ease staff concerns and deny at meetings with union leaders yesterday that the company would be seeking up to 500 job cuts across its 2,000-strong workforce.
Trade union Unite raised staff concerns with management as Taoiseach Enda Kenny said media reports about job losses were causing “great anxiety and concern for those who work in Aviva”.
Mr Kenny said the Department of Jobs and Enterprise and the IDA had contacted Aviva but that the company had not made a decision on its review of operations.
After meeting management, Unite regional officer Brian Gallagher described the encounter “very business-like and friendly” but added that Aviva was unable to give any assurances to staff.
The company did not provide a timetable on when changes may be introduced at the company.
The union, which represents 1,300 staff, was not expecting any further information from the insurer this week, Mr Gallagher said, after his meeting with director of human resources Joe McCaughey.
“Morale is on the floor. Our members are trying their best to lift the business under difficult circumstances and this lack of communication from management is very poor,” Mr Gallagher added.
A spokeswoman for Aviva said it could not say when a decision would be made on the review but warned there had been “significant shrinkage in the industry” as fewer people were taking out insurance or pension products.
“We are committed to Ireland but we have to ensure that we have the right cost base and structure to meet domestic demand,” she said.
The Taoiseach echoed the company’s position, saying that there had been a reduction in the sale of cars, home and health insurance.
“The general structure here leads you to understand the depth of the recession,” said Mr Kenny.
The British insurer employs 1,200 people in Dublin, 200 in Cork and 200 in Galway with additional staff in branches around the country.
The company has been hit by a spate of management departures over the past year as the insurer has reversed its decision to set up a European hub out of Ireland, relocating to Britain instead.
The departures include the former chief executive of Irish operations, Stuart Purdy, who took a job with rival insurer RSA with responsibility for operations in Asia and the Middle East.
Other senior managers who have left include former Aviva Ireland chief executive Jim Dowdall and Michael Murphy, managing director of Aviva’s general insurance business in Ireland. Mr Purdy, Mr Dowdall and Mr Murphy had been appointed to senior roles at a new Irish company set-up to oversee Aviva’s pan-European business. The head of Aviva Europe, Andrea Moneta, who spearheaded the development of the European hub from Ireland, was replaced in February.
Aviva’s spokeswoman said that business had not been affected.
