Westpac attacks workers for speaking out

05 January 2006

Westpac attacks workers for speaking out

Finsec members in Westpac have exposed for the first time exactly how debt sales targets work internally within the bank and have raised concerns about the impact on them and the communities that they are part of. Today Westpac will penalise staff for daring to speak out about this.

In today's pay packet the bank will give those staff not in the union a pay rise, and discriminate against union staff.

Despite Westpac's statements in the media that they want to resolve the current dispute with their staff, and their stated willingness to continue negotiations, they have told the union they are not available to negotiate until at least the end of January.

"The bank knows that for every day this dispute continues, our members are financially disadvantaged because their pay is now lower than staff who are not in the union" said Karen Skinner Campaign Director for Finsec union.

"We believe they are attempting to put financial pressure on staff to 'keep their mouths shut'. Given that many Westpac workers only just earn the average wage, this action will be felt heavily by members.

"We believe that there is a huge amount of support out there from the public for Westpac workers, and that many customers will be angry that staff are suffering for raising these concerns.

"All staff want is a deal which doesn't see their salaries kept the lowest in the industry due to unachievable sales targets" concluded Ms Skinner.

ENDS

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