Job cuts at energy firm decried


News that energy firm npower is to cut 2,400 jobs in the UK by 2018 has been described as a “bitter blow” by energy unions. The job losses come as npower announced annual losses of £106 million. 


It lost 351,000 customer accounts in 2015 and was issued with a £26 million fine last December from industry regulator Ofgem for sending customers late and inaccurate bills and for its poor handling of customer complaints. The company employs 11,500 people in the UK, 6,668 in full-time posts. The first wave of redundancies is expected at the end of this year. 


Kevin Coyne, national officer for the Unite general union described the job losses as “a bitter blow for workers, their communities and the wider energy sector”. And Dave Prentis, general secretary of the UNISON union, said: “Cutting a fifth of the workforce will leave the already struggling business in an even worse state.”


Eamon O’Hearn, of the GMB general union, said the union was disappointed that its members are set for more uncertainty over the next 12 months.

www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/devestating-npower-job-losses

www.unitetheunion.org/news/npower-warned-against-self-defeating-job-losses-as-it-goes-into-the-red/