At least 300 jobs are under threat
after the Bradford & Bingley announced plans to close 68 branches across
the UK.
The Yorkshire-based company has earmarked 57
estate agency offices and 11 former building society branches for closure.
Ubac, the union for Bradford & Bingley
employees, has been in negotiations for the past few months with the building
society turned bank.
"We have worked with Bradford &
Bingley to minimise the effects of these branch closures. To put this into
perspective, the overall staffing levels have doubled over the past three
years," said Dave Matthews, the union’s general secretary.
The union has negotiated an employment
agreement with the bank that will ensure that of the 300 employees, some will
be re-deployed to other branches and remainder will be entitled to redundancy
packages.
"This agreement has made a great
difference to employees in the estate agency division, where employees would
have previously have been entitled only to the statutory minimum," added
Matthews.
www.bradford-bingley.co.uk
