Barclays bank to lay off over 450 staff: 'These workers deserve better'
Barclays bank is to lay off over 450 staff, Unite said
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Barclays will lay off more than 450 members of staff across the business, the UK’s Unite union has said.
Mid- to senior-level staff at the business’s head office are likely to be affected, GB News understands.
Unite branded the decision “unnecessary and unjustified” which will leave staff gravely concerned about their job security and livelihoods.
Unite national officer Dominic Hook said: “How can a profitable finance organisation such as Barclays slash over 450 staff amid a cost-of-living crisis?
It's understood the affected roles are in Barclays' head office
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"This isn’t an organisation struggling to survive, this bank is making billions of pounds of profits.
"If these plans for compulsory redundancy are implemented then hundreds of families will lose their livelihoods and face financial hardship because of a management decision which is both unnecessary and unjustified.”
“The staff losing their jobs are not highly paid rich City bankers but those earning modest salaries within Barclays. These employees worked throughout the Covid pandemic to help to deliver the highest customer service to Barclays customers. These workers deserve better.
“Unite is opposed to these job losses and has called on Barclays to commit to no compulsory job losses. The bank must scrap these plans and reconsider. Unite is willing to work with the bank to ensure staff are given re-training and redeployment opportunities.”
A Barclays spokesperson said: “We continue to review and adapt our operations based on the ways customers are choosing to interact with us. These changes will enable greater collaboration across our teams, allowing us to continue to improve service for customers and clients.
"We are committed to supporting colleagues through this change, working closely with Unite.”
In July 2023, Barclays announced a net profit of £1.3billion in its Q2 results - a 24 per cent increase.
Barclays CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan yesterday said the company's workforce plans are in line with the broader financial industry, following reports about the bank planning to cut hundreds of jobs.
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In an interview with CNBC, he said: “We always continually modulate and modify that workforce.
“What you see at Barclays is no different than what you see anywhere else.”
By the end of this year, Barclays will have closed more than 1,140 bank branches since 2015, according to Which?.
The bank is closing 180 branches in 2023.
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