News of redundancies comes as UK division delays publication of results after car finance court ruling
Santander is cutting more than 1,400 jobs across its UK business this year as part of its efforts to reduce costs.
The Spanish bank’s chief executive officer, Hector Grisi, confirmed the cuts as its UK division delayed publication of its latest financial results to consider the impact of an influential court ruling linked to commission on car finance.
Continue reading...Enthusiasm for public sector pay awards tempered by concern over winter fuel payment cuts and job losses
“We’re hearing an awful lot about tough times: it’s like being in a Dickens novel. What comes after the tough times? We need to hear about hope.”
Onay Kasab, the national lead officer for the Unite trade union, was addressing a leftwing fringe meeting, but similar sentiments reverberated through the bars and coffee shops at this week’s TUC congress in Brighton.
Continue reading...Reduction of about a fifth of workforce in two subdivisions part of plan to slash up to $3bn in costs by end of 2025
Shell is to cut hundreds of jobs from its oil and gas exploration operation in the latest move by the chief executive, Wael Sawan, to slash up to $3bn (£2.3bn) in costs by the end of next year.
The energy company is to cut about a fifth of its workforce in two subdivisions of its oil and gas business responsible for exploration strategy and developing its oil and gas finds.
Continue reading...Survey reveals net fall in permanent jobs last month amid lengthening slowdown in employment market
The UK’s largest employers have warned the jobs market is cooling amid a slowdown in wage growth in July and a fall in vacancies, extending an almost two-year downturn in hiring demand for permanent staff.
Figures from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and the accountancy firm KPMG showed a fall in permanent staff placements in July as large employers made more redundancies and hired fewer new starters.
Continue reading...Rescue deal with Tapi Carpets and Floors will still result in about 1,000 job losses
The Carpetright brand and 54 of the flooring retailer’s stores are being bought by its rival Tapi Carpets and Floors in a deal that will save 300 jobs.
The multimillion-pound deal, which is expected to be finalised on Monday, does not include Carpetright’s head office in Purfleet, Essex, or 220 further shops, and will result in about 1,000 job losses.
Continue reading...Further job cuts likely as JLP says it is investing in automation as part of ‘simplifying the way we work’
The owner of John Lewis and Waitrose cut 3,500 jobs last year amid efforts to save costs in a tough market – but employed its first group chief executive on a more than £1m pay deal.
The staff-owned group, which has 34 John Lewis department stores and 329 Waitrose supermarkets, said it employed 72,900 people in its annual report published on Thursday, down from 76,400 a year before, helping to reduce its pay bill to £1.79bn from £1.82bn.
Continue reading...Proposal seeks to retain talent in Europe and end labour shortage – but criticised for not going far enough
The EU is planning to clamp down on unpaid internships and “bogus” traineeships offered by unscrupulous employers with a new directive.
The move, which was criticised by some groups for not going far enough, is to be tabled on Thursday and is likely to be the last major legislative proposal before the mandate of the European parliament ends with the June elections.
Continue reading...New owner Frasers Group decides it is unwilling to fund turnaround
The luxury clothing retailer Matchesfashion is to enter administration after its new owner, Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, said it was not willing to fund a turnaround.
Matches was acquired by Frasers just three months ago for £52m in cash from private equity firm Apax Partners but the business has “consistently missed its business plan targets” and made losses, Frasers said.
Continue reading...Johannesburg-based Amplats says one in five jobs will be lost in South Africa amid plunge in profits
The platinum arm of Anglo American is to cut 3,700 jobs in South Africa as the British mining company attempts to improve performance in the troubled division.
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) said on Monday it aimed to cut jobs after a sharp drop in platinum metal prices, which had led to a collapse in profits last year.
Continue reading...Firm rejects union plan, leaving UK on course to become only major economy unable to make steel from scratch
The owners of Port Talbot steelworks have rejected a trade union plan designed to keep its blast furnaces running, putting nearly 3,000 jobs at risk and leaving the UK on course to become the only major economy unable to make steel from scratch.
In what one union said would be a “crushing blow” to workers and UK steelmaking, Port Talbot’s parent company, the Indian-owned Tata Steel, told workers’ representatives that it could no longer afford to continue production at the loss-making plant in south Wales while it completed a four-year transition plan to greener production.
Continue reading...Vacancies declining as growth falters, recruiters’ body tells Bank of England
Britain’s largest recruiters have warned the Bank of England that demand for permanent hiring among UK businesses has plunged at the second fastest rate since the pandemic, amid worsening headwinds for the UK economy.
Ahead of the central bank’s decision on interest rates on 14 December, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) trade body said lingering economic uncertainty and hesitancy to commit to new hires had weighed on activity in November.
Continue reading...Tata Steel board thought to be meeting in India and decision over blast furnaces expected about noon
Tata Steel is expected to confirm as many as 3,000 job losses at its steelworks in Port Talbot on Wednesday, in what would be a devastating blow to the south Wales economy.
The board of Tata Steel is thought to be meeting in India, where it is headquartered, to make a final decision.
Continue reading...PwC says owner plans to reopen stores under Poundland brand throwing lifeline to as many as 1,800 staff
Poundland is to acquire up to 71 Wilko sites that it intends to reopen under its own brand in a deal that could throw a lifeline to some of the about 1,800 staff who will lose their jobs at the stricken retailer.
Under the deal struck by administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) with Poundland’s parent company Pepco, the sites will be acquired only after all 408 Wilko stores are shut and more than 12,000 staff made redundant.
Continue reading...Unions say widespread job losses in recent months have left UK ‘teetering on the brink of recession’
The TUC has urged the Bank of England to call a halt to interest rate increases after warning that widespread job losses in recent months have left the UK “teetering on the brink of recession”.
Employment had fallen in more than half of Britain’s 20 industrial sectors in the three months to June, the union body said as it predicted a fresh increase in the cost of borrowing would put tens of thousands more livelihoods at risk.
Continue reading...Crossbencher asks Lords to imagine bots with ‘higher productivity and lower running costs’ as example of risk to UK jobs market
The House of Lords could be replaced by bots with “deeper knowledge, higher productivity and lower running costs”, said a peer during a debate on the development of advanced artificial intelligence.
Addressing the upper chamber, Richard Denison hypothesised that AI services may soon be able to deliver his speeches in his own style and voice, “with no hesitation, repetition or deviation”.
Continue reading...Chemicals company says disruption from Ukraine war, rising costs and inflation will continue this year
The German chemicals company BASF has said it will cut 2,600 jobs as Europe’s largest economy braces for recession triggered by the energy crisis that intensified after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
The year was “dominated by the consequences of the war in Ukraine and in particular by increased raw material and energy prices”, BASF said in a statement on Friday. It paid additional energy costs of €3.2bn (£2.8bn) globally during 2022.
Continue reading...Majority of job losses are at large retailers such as Tesco and Asda, according to Centre for Retail Research
Nearly 15,000 British retail jobs have already been cut since January in a “brutal start to the year” for the high street.
A total of 14,874 retail job losses have been announced by companies so far, according to analysis from the Centre for Retail Research (CRR).
Continue reading...US carmaker blames losses on rising costs and need to switch to electric vehicle production
The British car industry faces the prospect of further steep job cuts without urgent government support for electric vehicle investment, a union leader has warned, after Ford revealed 1,300 UK redundancies in its internal combustion operations.
The US carmaker said it planned to eliminate 3,800 product development and administration jobs across Europe, citing rising costs and the need to speed up its switch from petrol and diesel engines to electric vehicles.
Continue reading...It is latest US tech company to announce sweeping job losses as global outlook weakens
Google’s parent company is to cut 12,000 jobs worldwide as it becomes the latest US tech major to cut staff.
Alphabet’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, said the redundancies followed a “rigorous review” of the business. The cuts come days after Microsoft said it would cut 10,00 jobs, citing a post-pandemic shift in digital spending habits and weakness in the global economy.
Continue reading...Sector reacts to post-pandemic shift in digital spending and gloomy economic outlook for 2023
Microsoft is cutting 10,000 jobs as it cited a post-pandemic shift in digital spending habits and weakness in the global economy.
The tech group joined a list of US peers making extensive job cuts, including Facebook owner Meta, Amazon, and business software-maker Salesforce, who have scaled back on workforce expansions stoked by a pandemic-related boom in demand for their services and products that have lost momentum.
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