Insurance company Aviva is to close its nationwide network of branches by next summer, with Castlebar being one of the branches affected.
Last month Aviva announced that it is shedding almost 1,000 staff throughout its Irish and European operations, due to the merging of Aviva Ireland with Aviva UK and the restructuring of its European regional operations.
This week an internal document which was leaked proposed that 120 jobs would go following the closure of the 26-outlet branch network, which would take place by the end of June 2012, up to five staff work at the Castlebar branch.
The UNITE trade union, which represents some 1,400 workers at Aviva Ireland, has reacted cautiously to news that a leaked document outlining detailed job cuts at the insurer is now in the public domain.
Brian Gallagher, UNITE regional officer, said: “Management previously said it would be January before details were finalised but this suggests otherwise.”
This week Aviva also appointed a new chief executive for Ireland, Sean Egan. UNITE said: “He is a man who has been central to the restructuring. We need to hear directly from him whether this document is to be the basis for our negotiation. We need to reach an agreement for those staff forced to leave, security for those remaining, and a fair balance between the two."
UNITE has issued notice to the company that staff will not co-operate with any move to transfer roles or make job cuts prior to an agreement being reached.
