Strike action closes banks

Hundreds of Westpac bank staff took to the streets throughout the country yesterday to draw attention to contract negotiations that have stalled over pay and sales targets.

Bank workers' union Finsec said the strike involved 1500 workers. The bank said the number was more like 700.

The action forced Westpac to close about 30 branches, mostly in smaller centres, on one of the busiest banking days of the year.

Hundreds of Christmas carol-singing workers gathered to picket outside Westpac's offices in downtown Auckland, and about 60 assembled outside the bank's Wellington headquarters on Lambton Quay.

The action included marches and rallies in Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay.

Talks between the bank and Finsec hit the rocks over what the union says are unrealistic and unethical higher sales targets in the bank's latest offer.

The targets forced workers to load customers with debt that, in many cases, they did not need or could ill afford, the union said.

The bank, however, has said it believes pay is the central issue. Its latest offer is 5.2 per cent across the board, equivalent to about 3.5 per cent over 12 months.

Finsec spokeswoman Karen Skinner said union negotiators were standing by over the holiday period in case the bank wanted to reopen talks.

Among picketing workers outside Westpac's Wellington offices yesterday was phone assistant Theresa Jennings, who works at the bank's call centre in the capital. She said the targets were the central issue.

"Basically we can't reach the targets. We have to sell a certain amount of debt to the customers before we actually get a pay rise."