Up to 4,000 jobs could be lost in the financial services sector over next three years, according to a senior union official. The assistant national secretary of MSF, Mr Jerry Shanahan, has told members that a wave of mergers and acquisitions is inevitable in the sector and the union needs to prepare a strategy ensuring that resulting redundancies are voluntary.
MSF is the largest union in the financial services sector, and this is the first time it has acknowledged significant job losses are likely. Mr Shanahan said the current 22 banks, insurance companies and building societies will fall to a maximum of 10 within the next two to three years.
At a seminar in Dublin for workplace representatives, Mr Shanahan told them to demand "synergy dividends" to counteract the worst effects of rationalisation.
The process will inevitably cause job losses, Mr Shanahan said yesterday. "However, if financial service companies are to realise the full benefits from this merger and acquisition process, they need the agreement and active participation of their staff." A "synergy dividend" meant achieving job security and a commitment to partnership for the union, in return for co-operation with change.
"Job security is essential for staff, so it is critical for management and staff to agree that where there are to be job losses, there should be no compulsory redundancies and the numbers should be kept to a minimum."
There are currently 38,600 workers in the industry. Of these 10,600 are in the insurance sector, 25,000 in banking and 3,000 in the building societies.
Mr Shanahan was reluctant to speculate on the scale of job losses, but said most companies had a staff turnover of 5 to 10 per cent in any given year. It should be possible to accommodate redundancies within this margin.