Aviva,Job losses confirmed at 950

There was a union official on the news last night saying they might go on strike because of the layoffs. Is he on the same planet as the rest of us? What does he think Aviva will do if the remaining workers go on strike?

Based on the apparant inflexibility of the union official, I'm wondering if this inflexibile attitude was a factor in the Irish staff being laid off i.e. pushing through restructuring and changing work practices etc. would be more difficult in Ireland than elsewhere.

csirl said:

There was a union official on the news last night saying they might go on strike because of the layoffs. Is he on the same planet as the rest of us? What does he think Aviva will do if the remaining workers go on strike?

Based on the apparant inflexibility of the union official, I'm wondering if this inflexibile attitude was a factor in the Irish staff being laid off i.e. pushing through restructuring and changing work practices etc. would be more difficult in Ireland than elsewhere.

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If Aviva tried this in France, they'd be processing lots of large insurance claims for fire damage to buildings and cars. We're just pussycats over here.

csirl said:

There was a union official on the news last night saying they might go on strike because of the layoffs. Is he on the same planet as the rest of us? What does he think Aviva will do if the remaining workers go on strike?

Based on the apparant inflexibility of the union official, I'm wondering if this inflexibile attitude was a factor in the Irish staff being laid off i.e. pushing through restructuring and changing work practices etc. would be more difficult in Ireland than elsewhere.

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If that is the case ,surely that will put what is left of the jobs here,at risk!

Complainer said:

If Aviva tried this in France, they'd be processing lots of large insurance claims for fire damage to buildings and cars. We're just pussycats over here.

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Maybe thats why Aviva Europe isnt based in France.

csirl said:

Based on the apparant inflexibility of the union official, I'm wondering if this inflexibile attitude was a factor in the Irish staff being laid off i.e. pushing through restructuring and changing work practices etc. would be more difficult in Ireland than elsewhere.

Click to expand...

Quite the opposite in fact. Union/Management/Staff all worked together and agreed a cost cutting program which included paid career breaks, voluntary redundancies and voluntary early retirement scheme to encorage staff with long service and high salaries to leave.

Because of so many changes to middle and senior management in Aviva over the last 4 years there has been no clear leadership in the company. This has resulted in a company that has not reduced its cost base or staffing levels, where as other companies have been concentrating on this issue.

Sad and emotional times for the staff but I think that strike action may have the opposite effect than what the staff might anticipate, but I suppose when you don't know whether your department is up for the cut well then you have nothing to lose!

Reading between the lines it would seem that call centre staff have the best chance of surviving as management have stated that they want to retain customer facing staff (but can you believe this seeing that they moved 200 jobs to india a few years ago?)

I also believe that Aviva payroll costs is just under the national average of 36,000 so its not out of kilter with other financial service companies.