Rock counter staff likely to keep jobs

Mar 19 2008 Evening Gazette

FRONT LINE staff serving at Northern Rock branches on Teesside are likely to hang on to their jobs as 2,000 colleagues - most of them in the bank’s North East heartland - face redundancy. The majority of the cuts will come this year.

Announcing details of the Rock’s restructuring, following the government’s decision to take it into public ownership last month, executive chairman Ron Sandler said the losses were regrettable but necessary.

The Unite union, which vowed to fight redundancies, said it would be pressing the bank for details of where the cuts would fall.

But given Mr Sandler’s commitment yesterday to preserve the high street bank’s presence in anticipation of an early return to the private sector, branch closures are not anticipated.

Meanwhile a jobs taskforce, led by One NorthEast, said it would be offering tailor made support to staff seeking new jobs, retraining or help in starting their own business.