Bank staff opt to go out on strike

Westpac says it will be doing its utmost to keep branches open. Picture / Martin Sykes

Westpac staff will go on strike on Friday, one of the busiest days of the banking year, having spurned the bank's latest employment offer because of increased requirements to sell debt to customers and an insufficient pay rise.

Bank workers' union Finsec, which represents nearly 2000 Westpac employees, said about 70 per cent had voted to take the action on the last banking day before Christmas.

The strike is likely to disrupt services to customers and Westpac was yesterday urging customers to complete transactions that required going into branches before Friday or else use internet banking.

Finsec said Westpac staff had been campaigning for several months against the way the bank compelled them to sell debt products to customers through a series of targets and performance measures.

"Staff want the bank to make an employment offer that removes the ethical dilemma that they may sometimes face when selling debt products to reach their target," said Maxine Mullen of the Westpac Union Council.

"We do not take this action lightly and we call on Westpac to recognise the overwhelming concern of customers and staff and remove debt targets from our pay systems."

Finsec campaigns director Karen Skinner said no Finsec members had ever taken industrial action on the last banking day before Christmas.

"It's so difficult for workers to lose a day's pay at what is financially the most difficult time of the year for everyone. I think that is an indication of how significant problems are at Westpac.

"Our members would rather use that day to highlight their concerns about the bank's customer debt targets than sell their customers further debt at the time of year when a lot of people can least afford it."

Skinner said customer support for Westpac staff over the issue had been overwhelming. Finsec members would be taking their message to the public on Friday "and further explaining what actually is happening internally within Westpac".

That would include leafleting, picketing and rallies, including one in central Auckland likely to draw many of the bank's about 600 staff in the region.

Skinner believed the bank would be able to keep most of its 200 branches open by juggling staff.

Westpac spokesman Mark Watts said the bank was focused on minimising disruption to services from the strike and would be "doing its utmost" to keep all of its branches open.

"It's hard to know until the day exactly how many people are involved ... our focus would be business as usual to the extent that's possible.

"We certainly want to be sure that our customers are not inconvenienced at all and one of the ways to do that is to urge customers who may be contemplating business inside a branch on Friday to transact stuff beforehand if possible and or use online banking where that's practical."

Watts said the bank was aware of the strong vote in favour of industrial action, but it believed the ball was now in the union's court.

He believed the performance targets issue had been "thrashed out".

"I don't think fundamentally that that's what this strike is about, I think it's about the quantum that's on the table."

Watts said Westpac had offered an increase of 5.2 per cent over 18 months, equal to 3.5 per cent over one year. Meanwhile, analysts at Goldman Sachs JBWere have said the dispute could weigh on Westpac's operations in New Zealand.

"We would expect its ability to retain key staff could potentially be impaired, adding pressure to Westpac's New Zealand operations."

Striking matter

* Westpac staff have voted to strike on Friday.

* They have rejected the bank's latest offer of a 5.2 per cent pay increase over 18 months.

* They are also calling for performance targets requiring them to sell customers more debt be removed from their employment contract.