NEWS RELEASE Wednesday 31st March 2004
"Standard Life jobs cuts another hammer blow to the Scottish economy"
STUC General Secretary Bill Speirs said:
"This announcement is another hammer blow for the financial sector and the economy of Scotland as a whole.
"Our thoughts are with the staff whose jobs are threatened at this time. Though they are not represented by an STUC affiliated trade union, the company still have a duty to properly consult with staff and we very much hope that they were informed of the decision prior to it being made public.
"In particular we are most concerned at the threat of compulsory redundancies and would urge Standard Life to rule these out - even at this, the eleventh hour.
"We are also critical of the company's decision to deny its defined benefit pension scheme to new entrants from November. Offering two tiers of benefits to employees undertaking the same job is a recipe for low staff morale and will store up problems in the longer term both for the employees affected and the whole company"
ENDS
For further details contact:
David Moxham