Protests Against Layoffs at German Insurer Allianz
June 28, 2006
Works meetings and warning strikes are planned today at Allianz offices in Cologne, Dortmund, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Augsburg. Protesting Allianz employees at a planned action in Munich intend to place a burial casket in front of Allianz headquarters in that city and conduct a symbolic funeral to convey the drama of the "death" of thousands of jobs.
Uwe Foullong, a member of the Verdi trade union executive board, called Allianz's plan to slash thousands of jobs "irresponsible" and "immoral." Verdi is demanding Allianz agree to retaining offices in certain cities and that it not impose layoffs until 2012.
Indeed, Verdi is now demanding the German government install a legal ban on layoffs among profitable companies.
Layoffs despite profits
Allianz employees are outraged over the announced job cuts, Verdi said, because the company achieved record profits of 4.4 billion euros ($5.5 billion) last year. Allianz is Europe's largest insurer, with headquarters in Munich.
Gerhard Rupprecht, head of Allianz Deutschland, said last week that the layoffs were "painful but necessary steps to ensure a sustainable increase in Allianz's competitiveness."
"For years, Allianz has been losing market share. The restructuring of the insurance business in Germany that was begun last year is intended to reverse this trend and respond to growing pressure on costs in the insurance sector," he added.
The restructuring measures are expected to result in cost savings of upwards of 500 million euros.
Prize-winning Allianz offices to be closed
Offices in various cities are also to be closed and others consolidated as part of the restructuring measures. Allianz management, for instance, said it would close its Cologne office at the start of 2008, as well as Aachen and Dortmund offices. That translates into over 1,500 jobs.
Cologne's mayor, Fritz Schramma, has appealed to Allianz to reconsider, particularly since the company's Cologne location received the "best Allianz office" award last year.
Furthermore, Allianz employees have done their share in trying to cut costs, said Wolfgang Tesch, Deputy Executive Director of the Allianz Works Council in Cologne. "The works council came to agreements with Allianz management that employees would accept the loss of Christmas and vacation bonuses. Hundreds of Allianz employees voluntarily agreed to that," he told German public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk.
Lothar Faulhauer, also Deputy Executive Director of the Allianz Works Council in Cologne, said the council does not see the necessity of the layoffs. "There's no need for it economically, nor is it socially responsible," he said.
He also said said the council wants to encourage employees to pressure politicians into taking action.
No redundancies before 2007
The announcement to slash jobs was not unexpected. Allianz has long said it planned to revamp its German insurance activities, without providing any details on the consequences until last week.
Allianz management has agreed with unions not to make any forced redundancies before the end of 2007.
Last week, Dresdner Bank -- Allianz's banking arm -- also announced a streamlining of its business model. Out of the over 2,400 jobs that the bank plans to cut, 1,980 are on the line in Germany and around 500 overseas, the bank said in a statement.