Lloyds Banking Group has recently announced that it is closing 29 branches and slashing 1,755 jobs effectively delaying the sale of its remaining shares to the public.
The move is part of the chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio's plan to reduce costs as the privatization of the Lloyds Bank is being prepared.
Bank employees were already informed about the job cuts on Wednesday as most of them will be largely affected. However, union officials expressed their hopes that the job cuts will be accomplished through voluntary means.
Employees were shocked when the announcement that 1,700 plus jobs will be cut. They called the work cut a 'body blow' considering the considerable job cuts that hit 45,000 employees that the company has made since the taxpayer bailout in 2008.
"Staff at Lloyds Banking Group have been living with this worry since 2009 and the job losses aren't over," Ged Nichols, a member of the banking union said.
"This is a kick in the teeth," stated another worker. He added that there were employees who were forced to re-apply just to get their jobs back.
"Any impacted staff must be offered genuine and suitable alternative roles. There is absolutely no case for compulsory redundancies," Rob MacGregor, the national officer for finance at Unite said.
Of the job cuts, about 700 will be in several Halifax branches which are also owned by Lloyds Bank. Some of the jobs will be routed to 'back office roles, consumer finance and business banking.'
In addition to the job cuts, Lloyds Banking Group will close 29 branches in June. Of those, 19 will be Lloyds Bank, 7 will be Bank of Scotland and 3 will be Halifax.
According to the company, some of the job losses will be offset partly by 170 fresh positions, which were originally part of the 9,000 redundant positions in October 2014.
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