26/04/2006

700 jobs at risk at Prudential

Insurance firm Prudential has announced plans to close sites in Belfast, Bristol and Holborn, London.

The closure will lead to the loss of around 700 jobs in the UK, which will be transferred to other sites, including India.

The closures are part of the a £40 million cost-saving programme, which was announced by Prudential last December.

Prudential announced that its Belfast office, which employs 500 staff, would close by the end of 2007, while the Bristol office, which employs 40 workers, would close by April 2007.

The jobs will be transferred to sites at Craigforth in Scotland, Derby in the East Midlands and Mumbai in India.

Prudential chief executive Nick Prettejohn said that any changes which resulted in redundancies was "regrettable".

The news follows the announcement of the closure of Peugeot's UK plant near Coventry with the loss of around 2,300 jobs.

Amicus said that it would consult with Prudential staff over strike action. Amicus National Officer David Fleming said: "Weak employment protection and globalisation are eating away at the heart of the UK economy. Finance and manufacturing fuels our wealth. Until the government strengthens employment rights more and more UK jobs will slip through our fingers. Amicus is prepared to fight these proposals and we will support our members in any action they choose to take to protect their jobs.

"We have told the company in no uncertain terms that we do not accept their proposals and that they are making no attempt to avoid compulsory redundancies."

According to reports, Prudential said that there would be no compulsory redundancies before the end of the year.

(KMcA/CD)

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