ABN works councils support merger with Barclays

ABN AMRO's Dutch and European works councils have backed the takeover bid for the Dutch bank from Britain's Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research), ABN said on Friday.
ABN has agreed an all-share offer from Barclays worth about 63 billion euros (42.3 billion pounds) but a rival consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) has offered 71.1 billion euros.
In many Dutch merger deals, employers are considered stakeholders with a say in the process.
ABN said it welcomed the backing its Dutch and European works councils, adding that it had earlier reached an agreement with trade unions about the planned deal with Barclays.
The Dutch works council has not yet decided whether it would support or reject the RGS consortium's plan for ABN as its proposals were not yet clear, a spokeswoman for ABN's Dutch works council said.
Barclays has said it plans to avoid compulsory redundancies when cutting 23,600 jobs if it buys ABN, including 10,800 positions moved to low-cost locations. The total would represent almost 11 percent of the banks' combined workforce.
RBS, Spain's Santander (SAN.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) and Belgian-Dutch Fortis (FOR.BR: Quote, Profile, Research) could eliminate 19,000 jobs globally if they buy ABN, the consortium has said.