Union Sees Harder Times Ahead
The Age
Thursday July 10, 2008
A UNION fears the 600 jobs to be lost at Insurance Australia Group may not be the only redundancies in a sector buffeted by the global credit crisis and rising claims because of climate change.
Finance Sector Union national policy director Rod Masson said the planned cuts at IAG were probably the largest job losses in the sector since 2003, when Commonwealth Bank announced the axing of more than 3000 jobs."I suspect we may be on the cusp of some harder times for the sector," Mr Masson said.Sharp falls in the price of finance stocks and more difficult trading conditions could see a renewed focus on driving down costs in the industry, he said.IAG chief executive Mike Wilkins said much of the $130million in annual savings the company was targeting would come from "head-count reductions" across all parts of its business. That would see 600 jobs lost in Australia, or about 5% of its local workforce.Mr Masson said sacking workers was not the solution. He said job cuts could do long-term damage to morale and the ability to provide a decent service to customers.He said unions had a productive relationship with IAG, but "obviously we don't like an announcement like this".
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