Banking jobs proposal 'heavy handed'

The Government looks unlikely to respond to calls for retention of bank workers' jobs to be a condition of its retail deposit and wholesale funding guarantees with Finance Minister Bill English yesterday dismissing the proposal as "heavy-handed".

Bank workers union Finsec yesterday presented a petition with 10,500 signatures calling for banks to maintain existing staff levels in exchange for coverage under the retail and wholesale guarantees.

Finsec estimates that since the start of the credit crisis about 1000 bank jobs have either been lost or will be soon.

"In the midst of this financial crisis, created by banks, and in the midst of a national focus on job protection and support for businesses, some of the most profitable corporates in New Zealand are sending jobs offshore and downsizing their operations," Finsec general secretary Andrew Casidy said yesterday at the Beehive.

He said a poll by research company UMR had found almost 80 per cent of those asked believed banks should maintain current staff levels in return for cover under the guarantee schemes.

English said the Government was "as keen as Finsec" to save local bank workers' jobs "but I think making it a condition of the guarantee is a bit heavy-handed because removing a guarantee from one of our major banks could have quite significant economic effects on thousands of jobs and I don't think even Finsec would want that".