STAFF AT insurance company Aviva have voted unanimously to ballot for industrial action. The move follows the announcement by the company yesterday that almost 1,000 staff in its Irish and European operations in Dublin, Cork and Galway are to be made redundant.
The company said yesterday the job losses result from moves to combine its Irish and UK divisions and to restructure its European regional operations.
The decision to ballot for industrial action was taken at a staff meeting in Dublin last night.
Trade union Unite said the ballot would be used “to show that staff will fight to maintain the maximum number of high-skilled, sustainable jobs”.
The company said as a result of the proposed initiatives 950 jobs – 770 in Aviva Ireland and a further 180 in Aviva Europe – could be lost.
The company has also warned that up to 300 additional posts could be outsourced. However, it said any jobs that were outsourced would remain in Ireland.
Aviva also said it was investigating the feasibility of establishing “additional centres of excellence in Ireland to serve customers in the UK as the business grows”. It said this could potentially mitigate the job cuts by approximately 200.
Other than the proposed job losses in its Aviva Europe facility in Dublin, the company has given no details of which of its Irish operations – life insurance, general insurance or health insurance – will be affected by the cuts.
Aviva has also said it would prefer if the job reductions could be achieved by voluntary redundancy or by redeployment. However, staff said it had not ruled out compulsory redundancies if necessary. The company has also given no details of the terms of any redundancy deals for staff.
Aviva said any proposed structural changes in the Irish business were not expected to take effect before March next. The job cuts and restructuring plans are expected to be phased in over the next two years. The job losses in the European operation are expected to take place from next summer.
Aviva Europe chief executive Igal Mayer said: “In Ireland, we must improve our competitiveness to ensure we continue to provide customers with attractive products, good value and excellent service.”
Unite said the ballot would begin after staff in the company’s other bases in Cork and Galway had been consulted.
At the meeting last night staff expressed a lack of confidence in management. Unite regional officer Brian Gallagher said: “Aviva remains immensely profitable and we will not accept compulsory redundancies; we will not accept a voluntary package below what our members deserve; we will not facilitate the removal of jobs from Ireland without negotiated agreement.”
Minister for Enterprise and Jobs Richard Bruton said his officials had been “in almost daily contact with Aviva seeking to mitigate the impact” over the last number of weeks. He said the job losses came on foot of “a 30 per cent collapse in the domestic market”.
“I have met with the global CEO, the head of Aviva Europe and domestic management to see if there are opportunities.”
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin accused the Government of not engaging actively with Aviva.