HR jobs at Aviva, the UK’s biggest insurer, will be lost after the firm unveiled plans to cut 4,000 jobs at its Norwich Union business by 2008.
Aviva said that about half of the job reductions would come through compulsory redundancies. Up to 1,000 jobs would be shifted to India and another 500 IT posts would be outsourced. Other functions to be affected include marketing, finance and IT.
Aviva is looking to cut costs in response to consumers changing the way they buy insurance, with many turning away from high street shops and doing their shopping online.
David Fleming, from the Amicus union, told the BBC’s Today programme that it had “a zero tolerance of offshoring jobs leading to compulsory redundancies”.
Amicus will now start a consultation period with management and Amicus said it would “consult with our members to see what they want to do”.
Offshoring to India was part of previously announced plans to move 7,800 jobs overseas by the end of next year.
Staff affected by the latest job cuts will be offered retraining and the chance to move within the company.
The job cuts will save £250m in 2008 and would help smooth the integration of divisions such as car insurance and recovery company RAC, the firm said.
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