{"id":7038,"date":"2015-12-09T10:52:12","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T10:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=7038"},"modified":"2015-12-09T10:52:12","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T10:52:12","slug":"long-term-job-security-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=7038","title":{"rendered":"Long-term job security call"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Staff at Legal &amp; General\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flagship site in Kingswood, Surrey, have moved closer to strike action in the New Year with the launch of a final industrial action ballot. This follows September\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s consultative ballot which saw 63 per cent of members vote in support of taking strike action to defend 1,550 jobs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe strike ballot will begin on Friday (December 11) and will last until Monday (January 4).<br \/>\nThe dispute follows L&amp;G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to threaten up to 1,550 jobs by closing the Kingswood site in 2017, citing potential cost savings.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nIn September, 68 per cent of Unite members in Kingswood took part in a consultative ballot, with 63 per cent voting in support of taking industrial action.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nIn response, Legal &amp; General postponed the closure of Kingswood until 2018 and offered some staff the option of relocation to sites in Hove, Cardiff, Wittam, London and Birmingham.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nHowever, there has been no offer of either long-term job security for impacted staff or any willingness to discuss alternatives that could keep the Kingswood site open.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members are not interested in a mere \u00e2\u20ac\u0098stay of execution\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite regional officer Ian Methven. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey want Legal &amp; General to seriously look at ways that the profitable Kingswood site can remain open and the 1,550 jobs can be saved.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bKingswood remains a centre for hundreds of highly skilled pension specialists and financial experts, whose loss would have a clear impact on L&amp;G\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to serve its customers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bClosing Kingswood is simply the wrong decision for staff and customers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs L&amp;G are refusing to enter into serious negotiations, our members have been left with no option but to proceed with a final industrial ballot ahead of strike action.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Pic by Donna Smillie<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Staff at Legal &amp; General\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flagship site in Kingswood, Surrey, have moved closer to strike action in the New Year with the launch of a final industrial action ballot. This follows September\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s consultative ballot which saw 63 per cent of members vote in support of taking strike action to defend 1,550 jobs. &nbsp; The strike [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[292],"wps_subtitle":"Financial services firm staff on verge of strike","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7038"}],"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=7038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7040,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7038\/revisions\/7040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}