MetLife Inc. is facing pressure both to cut fewer jobs and to cut more jobs at Travelers Life & Annuity.[@@]
MetLife, New York, agreed in January to acquire Travelers Life from Citigroup Inc., New York, for $11.5 billion in cash and stock. MetLife announced Monday that it plans to offer 1,400 "ongoing positions," including 1,100 jobs in Hartford, to Travelers Life's 2,000 employees.
MetLife, which is still seeking permission from Connecticut regulators to complete the Travelers Life deal, already has about 1,200 employees of its own in Connecticut.
In March, the Hartford Courant was reporting that MetLife might cut as many as 1,200 jobs, and Travelers Life employees have speculated that attrition and other factors might cut the number of layoffs to considerably less than 600.
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell has reacted to the announcement of the job cuts by emphasizing her disappointment.
"For MetLife, this is a business deal," Rell says in a statement about the announcement. "For me, this is about the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of dedicated employers ? and their families."
