Lloyds bank attracts the wrath of the unions
Lloyds bank is today under pressure after yesterday's announcement of a further 5,000 job cuts by the end of 2010. The unions have now become involved in the matter claiming arrogance within the UK banking community as taxpayer supported banks continue to shed significant job numbers to cut back on their cost base and "look to the future". The unions are calling for an immediate suspension of compulsory redundancies and are looking to get around the negotiating table with Lloyds bank management and come to a formal agreement.
While many of the 5,000 plus jobs to go in 2010 will be amongst temporary staff there is expected to be in the region of 2,600 permanent staff job losses across the group. When you also take into account the 10,000 job losses announced this year it is easy to see why the unions are angry at UK taxpayer supported banks shedding more and more jobs, while publicly owned banks appear to be thriving. So why the big difference between the banks?
The problem for Lloyds bank and Royal Bank of Scotland is the fact that the EU commission, backed by the UK government, has effectively ordered a massive downscaling of the operations and a fire sale of certain assets. This is the forfeit forced upon the companies in light of the massive state funding they have received over the last 12 months.
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