{"id":2039,"date":"2014-10-28T16:40:21","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T16:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=2039"},"modified":"2014-10-29T13:59:10","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T13:59:10","slug":"jobs-slash-reveals-true-work-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=2039","title":{"rendered":"Jobs slash reveals true work picture"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My first \u00e2\u20ac\u0098proper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 job after I left school was working in a local call centre for one of the big high street banks. My colleagues were all in their early twenties and complacent as they believed they had secured themselves a good job for life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today this is sadly no longer the case. Frontline banking jobs are low paid, long hours and now also insecure. Your job could go at any minute and you may well read about it in the news before you hear it from your employer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Banks are raking in huge profits, rewarding top executives with massive salaries and bonuses and throwing Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s youth on the scrapheap in favour of cheap technology to save money.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s (Tuesday October 28) grim announcement that Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has confirmed a further 9,000 job cuts and 150 branch closures is truly bad news for customers, communities and young people seeking a solid career.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The jobs, which will go over the next three years, are the latest in a series of cuts which have seen 30,000 jobs go since the banking crisis in 2008.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These jobs are now a lost opportunity for Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s youth \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and exposes the truth behind the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 myth of growing employment opportunity for all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But the job losses do not stop Lloyd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s top executives from fulfilling their large pay potentials.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite national officer Rob MacGregor says that top executives\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pay should now be cut before Lloyds make any compulsory redundancies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe wallets of top executives at Lloyds should not be getting fat by forcing low paid workers onto the dole,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Rob MacGregor. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf there are compulsory redundancies then executive pay should be cut first.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Antonio Horta-Osorio, Lloyds Banking Group CEO, earns around \u00c2\u01413.2m in salary with a bonus of \u00c2\u01411.7m. The bank also reported pre-tax profits of \u00c2\u01411.61bn for the nine months to September 30.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Community loss<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The bank, which is a quarter owned by the taxpayer, says it will be closing 200 branches but opening 50 new ones making the net closure 150. It has also abandoned its pledge to keep open \u00e2\u20ac\u0098the last branch in town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since 1990 the UK has lost almost half of its high street bank branches – more than 8,000. Another 2,500 are expected to close by the end of 2018. There are now more than 900 towns with just one bank left, and 1,200 communities have been left with no bank at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe growing movement to shut last branches is one we should fight. My belief is that banks have a social responsibility to the communities they serve which means not abandoning customers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Derek French, director of the Campaign for Community Banking Services.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bShoving a cash machine in a local supermarket is not enough. A hole in the wall simply won’t suffice if the bank’s hard-nosed decision is sending local traders to the wall,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Banks are eager to push their customers online because once technology has been developed it is a cheaper way of doing business.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But office for national statistics figures show that 6.7m \u00e2\u20ac\u201d just under one in eight of the population \u00e2\u20ac\u201d has never used the internet. Of these, 5.8m are over the age of 55.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Old Roan in the North West is one small town feeling the shattering effects of being left with no bank branch at all. Local resident and chairman of Aintree Village Parish Council, Peter Gill explains how being left with no local bank has affected the villages\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 residents.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur nearest branch is now Black Bull. Elderly people with no car have to get two buses, if you have a car it is a very difficult place to park,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 explained Peter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have a very elderly population in Aintree Village and a great deal of them can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use the internet, some of them also have mobility problems.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Insecure jobs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Over the next three years roughly a tenth of Lloyd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entire workforce will be replaced by digital technology. The bank intends to use video technology to provide remote advice to customers through a centralised system.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The bank has said it will try to minimise the impact of the job cuts by deploying some staff in new roles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But this does little to lessen the fear felt by those frontline staff who have no idea if their jobs are safe or not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A young Unite member from a Lloyds\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 call centre spoke to UNITElive about what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like to work for the bank.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI work alongside people with PhD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. The truth is work is hard to come by round here. The bank pays a pound over the minimum wage. It certainly beats bar and shop work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 they said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf jobs go from here I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure what people will do for work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSaying that it has never felt like a secure job. Those working on the bottom level are constantly fearful for their jobs.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another worker expressed dismay on hearing through the media that their job could be cut, before the announcement came.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The confirmation by Lloyds follows last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leaks of the job losses to the press. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese are deeply unsettling times for Lloyd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s staff, who after days of speculation and leaks face yet another round of job cuts and a future of uncertainty,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 added Rob MacGregor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is young people who will feel the threat the most.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe job market here is not full of opportunities for young people. If this call centre closed people would need to travel to another part of the city in the hope of finding work,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said a call centre worker from the North West.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bJob losses in the finance sector restrict career opportunities. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a tough environment to work in. Although this centre is fairly safe there is always a fear of who is next.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been twelve years since I worked in a call centre and the job is almost unrecognisable to me. Who knows what the next twelve years hold for finance sector workers?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My first \u00e2\u20ac\u0098proper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 job after I left school was working in a local call centre for one of the big high street banks. My colleagues were all in their early twenties and complacent as they believed they had secured themselves a good job for life.   Today this is sadly no longer the case. Frontline […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[32,141],"wps_subtitle":"Is Lloyds 9,000 jobs slash a lost opportunity for Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s youth?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2039"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2042,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2039\/revisions\/2042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}