Fight to save 1,550 finance jobs in Surrey

Socialist Party reporters

Members of Unite the Union’s finance sector have taken to picket lines for the first time since the 1970s to fight back against the closure of Legal & General’s flagship site in Kingswood, Surrey.

The pension and insurance giant plans to close the site by 2018, axing 1,550 highly skilled jobs in the name of short-term savings. Yet in 2015 Legal & General increased profits by 18% – amounting to over £750 million!

It isn’t only Legal & General workers under threat; Unite has commissioned an independent impact report which reveals that closing Kingswood will create a £21 million black hole in the surrounding economy.

Following a breakdown in talks between Unite and Legal & General, a ballot of Kingswood members resulted in a 67% vote in favour of industrial action.

In the first step of this campaign the members organised a picket of Legal & General headquarters in the City of London and presented the impact report to the company board.

This will now be followed by a rolling programme of industrial action throughout February, which will last until the employer comes back to the table to save jobs.

This dispute is just the latest example of attacks on workers across the finance sector.

From closing bank branches to off-shoring, the major banks and insurance firms are continuing to hand down the cost of the 2008 crisis to workers.

Alternative

Yet the dispute at Kingswood also shows an alternative is possible. By organising collectively finance sector workers can halt these attacks and bring workplace-led democracy to the industry.

If Legal & General will not recognise their social responsibility to Kingswood then the site must be nationalised.

Along with the government’s stake in Lloyds Banking Group and RBS, this would be a clear step towards full public ownership of the financial sector, ensuring it operates for social need and not the profits of the 1%.