Senior liberty manager accuses company of spin on job losses

A senior manager at Liberty Insurance has said that the feeling among workers at the Cavan Town offices is “very bad” following Thursday’s announcement by the company that it is seeking 270 redundancies in Ireland - 115 of which are being sought in the Dublin Road offices.

Derek Smith, senior manager in the claims division, in an exclusive interview with The Anglo-Celt on Tuesday said that staff in Cavan are in “shock”, feel the consultation process is being “rushed” and ultimately they fear that the company will eventually close the Cavan Town offices.

Before the former Quinn Insurance business went into administration five years ago, staff in Ireland numbered 1,500 across sites in Cavan, Navan, Blanchardstown and Enniskillen. Once the current process is complete, remaining staff in Cavan and Dublin will number less than 500.

The CEO of Liberty Insurance Ireland, Tom McIlduff, told the Celt this week that the company has “no plans” to close the Cavan office and is “committed” to the business here but could not guarantee the remaining jobs here for any period of time (see pages 6 & 7 for interview).

The latest redundancies come as the company has decided to exit the personal general insurance market in Britain - that business is serviced from Ireland.

‘Spin’

Mr Smith, in particular, took issue with any suggestion that redundancies will be voluntary.

“I would be concerned at whatever spin is being put on this. Everything I am reading and, particularly in your own publication [website], suggests that everything is rosy. It is not. It is far from rosy... No one went up knocking on the door in advance of last Thursday saying ‘I want to leave and give me a ball of money’. That is not the case. There is a slant being put on this that to me is wrong,” slammed Mr Smith, who is not the official workers’ representative but was elected chairman of the Workers’ Representative Committee five years ago when Quinn Insurance first went into administration.

That experience, Mr Smith says, puts him in “a position of knowledge and some strength” on the consultation process now underway.

“I encouraged my colleagues yesterday (Monday) to do something about it [elect their own representatives] and actually elect people in their own units and put them forward, rather than just allow the company to leave it as it is and hope that it is sufficient – it is not sufficient more needs to be done and the clock is ticking,” said Mr Smith.

He also said that the July 10 deadline for voluntary redundancies was too soon and believes it should lie at least outside the consultation period.

Mr Smith also believes that the company should have had all the necessary structures, supports and information in place to co-incide with the staff briefings on Thursday afternoon in the Hotel Kilmore. This, he claims, has resulted in “confusion”.

“We are not breaking new ground here. This is the third occasion in recent years. Unfortunately we are not novices when it comes to dealing with this, yet the way it is being handled, it would appear that way,” said Mr Smith.

“It was announced last Thursday and there were no questions and answers after it. There was shock at the way it was being rushed and the level of redundancies,” he added.

Asked what should be in place, Mr Smith said: “When I was chairperson and actively assisted by the HR function I held at the time, we had to get legal advice to make sure everything was being handled correctly – that was provided independently. We had to get people in from the Department of Social Protection to let people know of their rights. We had to get taxation advice concerning the redundancy lump sum and how it would be treated. We also had to get advice in regard to mortgage protection and how the voluntary V compulsory would impact on the outside perception of what people were embarking on. We had to get Enterprise Ireland in to assist people who were embarking on a new career.”

‘Poor timing’

Referring to the summer time and holiday season, Mr Smith continued: “It is poor timing. The staff are confused.”

He added: “The amount of my own co-colleagues that are on holidays are considerable. Again it seems to me to show a lack of sensitivity and a lack of consideration for the employees.”

Expressing sadness that the workers now find themselves in this position yet again, Mr Smith said: “The vast majority of the workers out there are of a young demographic with families, so it is not in any shape or form a welcome development.”