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Union Condemns Policy Of Protecting Jobs In India, As Lloyds Slashes 1,202 More UK Jobs.
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Date: 16th Jul 2009
As Lloyds Slashes 1,202 More Jobs, Union Condemns Policy Of Protecting Jobs In India At Expense Of UK Staff
Key Headlines:
● 659 Job Losses Amongst UK Information Technology Staff
● 275 Job Losses Amongst UK Collections & Recoveries Staff
● 239 Job Losses Amongst UK Scottish Widows/Clerical Medical &
Insurance Staff
But ... LBG maintains existing staffing levels in India
Lloyds Banking Group has today announced a further 1,202 job reductions as a consequence of removing overlaps and duplication across the combined HBOS and LTSB banks, bringing the total announced over the past twelve weeks to over 8,700.
But even though both the Bank’s IT and Collections & Recoveries operations are directly supported by well over a thousand staff based in India – and the Bank flying into the UK many more IT staff from India who are paid low salaries – the axe has fallen entirely on the jobs of UK staff.
So for instance, whilst Collections & Recoveries intends to reduce from 8 to 6 the number of sites in the UK that it intends to operate from – exiting sites in Andover and Southend – it is insisting upon leaving the 3 operations in India untouched.
A Betrayal Of UK Tax Payers, UK Jobs & The UK Economy
There are two pieces of news this week that make this betrayal of UK jobs – preferring to retain work in India where staff can be paid far lower salaries at the expense of jobs in the UK – all the more unpalatable:
• On Monday, UK Financial Investments (UKFI) - which manages the Government’s 43% stake in LBG – announced that bailing out LBG and RBS has cost every household an average of £3,000 each. Yet despite this huge bailout, LBG’s Board believes that the UK taxpayer should also bear the cost of thousands more jobs in the UK being lost, when it could instead make significant reductions in its offshored workforce, where over 4,500 staff are currently employed.
• On Wednesday, the Office Of National Statistics (ONS) announced that unemployment had risen by a record 281,000 to 2.38 million in the three months to May 2009.
LTU – the independent trade union representing the largest number of staff in the Lloyds Banking Group – believes it is wholly unacceptable that the Bank should disregard in this way the interests of its existing UK-based staff and the wider UK economy.
Union Comments
Commenting on the announcement of further job losses, Steve Tatlow, Assistant General Secretary at Lloyds TSB Group Union, has said:
"The Lloyds Banking Group is haemorrhaging jobs by the thousands, with 8,700 job losses announced over the last 12 weeks, but it still refuses to abandon its disreputable and discredited policy of Offshoring Jobs to India.
This is a slap in the face for the taxpayer. The Bank expects UK taxpayers to bail it out to the tune of over one thousand pounds each and then makes the jobs of those very same tax payers redundant because it prefers to employ workers in India instead.
LTU is calling on UKFI, which manages 43.4% of the Lloyds Banking Group on behalf of the UK Government, to show greater concern for protecting the interests of UK jobs and the UK economy."
LTU Steps Up Pressure Against Offshoring
LTU has stepped up its campaign to force the Lloyds Banking Group into abandoning its ‘Jobs To India’ strategy – both where this has involved the transfer of jobs to India and where it has used India-based staff to come to the UK and take on jobs that could otherwise be done by existing UK-based IT staff.
LTU has written to MP’s again asking them to support the Union’s campaign and is shortly meeting with UKFI, where it will insist that the Government’s 43.4% stake in Lloyds is used to force the Lloyds’ top management to act in the best interests of UK jobs and the UK economy.
About Lloyds TSB Group Union (LTU)
Lloyds TSB Group Union (LTU) - with over 42,000 members – is the largest independent trade union representing staff in the Lloyds Banking Group.
For More Information
For more information, you can download a copy of LTU's latest Newsletter on job losses and Offshoring at www.ltu.co.uk/newsletters. For more information you can contact Steve Tatlow on 07879 643130.
Steve Tatlow
Assistant General Secretary
Lloyds TSB Group Union
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