HAMPSHIRE employees of insurance giant Norwich Union are fearing for their jobs yet again after it emerged a further 103 workers face the axe.

Unions attacked the profitable company for an “annual exercise in cutting thousands of staff” and branded the move “unacceptable”.

Norwich Union, which is rebranding under the name of its parent Aviva, aims to shed 68 contractor jobs and a further 35 full-time staff from its 1,000-strong workforce in Chandler’s Ford, where it is one of the town’s biggest employers.

The losses follow a similar blow last July, when the firm announced it was axing half its 315-strong Southampton office.

Aviva yesterday announced plans to lose a total of 1,100 jobs, with offices in York and Norwich worst hit by the cuts.

Unite’s Derek Simpson said: “Today we see a scenario where a company that is continuing to deliver positive results is slashing the staff that have enabled them to weather the current financial storm.

“Unite is angry that Aviva is repeating what appears to be an annual exercise of cutting thousands of staff.

“It is unacceptable that once again shareholders received their full dividends, while the workers who brought the company this success are rewarded with job losses.

“The Aviva workforce is continuing to live under constant uncertainty about their future.

“Unite has been told that these job losses are unrelated to the economic downturn.”

Mark Hodges, chief executive at Norwich Union Life, said: “Our strategy over the last three years has seen us transform and simplify our business, leaving us well placed to face the challenges ahead.

“We have made significant progress in improving our operational efficiency and are also nearing completion on a series of major change projects. Unfortunately, this means that a reduction in the number of roles in the business is inevitable.

“Making decisions that affect our people is always difficult and we are fully committed to doing everything we possibly can to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies.

“Our priority now is to work with everyone affected by today’s announcement and to support them however we can.”