Brazil's Bradesco cuts jobs, ending pledge to avoid pandemic layoffs, union says

By Carolina Mandl

SAO PAULO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Brazilian lender Banco Bradesco SA has laid off about 70 employees, ending a pledge not to cut jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, a union representing bank employees said on Thursday.

The union said the staff were laid off since Monday, mostly from the human resources department.

Bradesco has sent employees a statement saying that workers laid off by Nov. 30 will keep their dental and healthcare insurance active for an additional six months at no cost, the union said.

The bank declined to comment on the matter.

Bradesco, which ended June with 96,787 employees, said earlier in July that it was planning to reduce nominal operating costs this year and next to help weather the crisis stemming from the pandemic.

CEO Octavio de Lazari said the bank was planning to use measures such as returning rented buildings and cutting branch security and money transportation expenditures.

Besides Bradesco, its biggest rivals Itau Unibanco Holding SA and Banco Santander Brasil SA have also started layoffs recently.

The unions estimate that nearly 1,800 bank workers have been fired since the beginning of the pandemic by nearly a dozen banks.

Brazil's unemployment rate rose to 13.8% in July, the highest in at least eight years, hit by the coronavirus pandemic. (Reporting by Carolina Mandl; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)