CIVIC leaders were today meeting Norwich Union bosses in a bid to soften the blow of almost 600 job losses.

Bill McCarthy, chief executive of City of York Council, and the leaders of the four parties on the authority were today meeting with representatives from the insurance giant this morning.

Council leader Andrew Waller said: “We are hoping to get more information about the causes of the redundancies, and what we can do to help them expand their remaining business in the city.”

Those present will include David Scott, Ian Gillies and Andy D’Agorne, leaders of the Liberal Democrats, Labour, Conservatives and Greens respectively, Norwich Union’s marketing director David Barrell and senior public affairs manager Katie Litt.

The meeting comes as the consultation process over the job losses gets fully under way at Norwich Union, with managers beginning to talk to members of staff about the individual implications.

Union leader Andy Case, national secretary of the Unite union, said that he and other senior officials had also been invited to direct talks and they were currently considering that offer.

He said the union was pressing for as many redundancies as possible to be achieved through measures such as retirement and re-deployment. “We are hoping to keep the number of compulsory redundancies down.”

The Press reported last week how Norwich Union, soon to be known as Aviva, was shedding 571 posts in York, equivalent to 15 per cent of its 3,800 workforce in the city.

Of the jobs being axed, 349 were permanent roles and 222 were contracted or agency staff,with the business change and IT departments being hardest hit. The job losses, which came out of the blue for employees, were the fourth large round of cuts by the company in less than three years, but senior managers reaffirmed the company’s commitment to staying in York.

The Green Party claimed today that there was “absolutely no excuse” for the continuing waves of job cuts at Norwich Union.

Regional spokesman Andrew Collingwood said: “The dedicated staff at York have helped build Aviva and make it the success it is today with its annually increasing profits.

“Instead of praise and job security for their contributions, they face the constant threat of redundancy, while Aviva continues to reward its shareholders and waste money on rebranding and expensive celebrity advertising campaigns.”

Andy Chase, the Greens’ parliamentary candidate for York Central, said: “This is bad news for York’s economy and terrible news for Aviva employees when the company is spending a large amount of money on advertising and rebranding itself.”