Unions are demanding Suncorp come clean on the number of jobs it intends to cut across the company. The Brisbane-based bancassurer held discussions with staff last week about redundancies, and now the unions want information, too.

Finance Sector Union Acting National Secretary Rod Masson told insuranceNEWS.com.au morale among Suncorp employees has been running low since the company put up its “for sale” sign over the banking operation.

“While all this is going on, Suncorp executives still seem happy to take their rather large bonuses and other increases to remuneration even though the company itself has had a pretty poor year and workers are being told to cut costs or even leave,” he said.

Speculation surfaced in the market last week of up to 1500 jobs being axed from the company. A Suncorp spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au the company is reviewing its financial situation and there will be redundancies, but a target has not been set.

She says the figure of 1500 is “merely a rumour” and the company does not have any updated numbers of job cuts.

KPMG has predicted about 10,000 positions will go among the top five banks over the next year.

Mr Masson says no one seems to know exactly what is going on over the job cuts issue.

“This is symptomatic of companies being reluctant to talk about actual numbers – they don’t want bad news surrounding them.”