Westpac workers talk again

Westpac Bank would return to the negotiating table with workers next week in an attempt to hammer out an agreement over pay and conditions, including bitterly contested sales targets, bank workers' union Finsec said.

After industrial action just before Christmas by up to 1500 workers which closed Westpac branches throughout the country, workers had voted on the bank's latest offer for a second time. Finsec campaign director Karen Skinner said 65 per cent of workers had rejected the offer.

Westpac and Finsec agreed to meet for more negotiations on Wednesday.

Skinner said the sticking points in the latest offer had been the length of its term, the size of the pay increase and sales targets.

Westpac has offered a 5.2 per cent across the board pay rise, equivalent to about 3.5 per cent over 12 months. But workers want to be able to renegotiate after one year. Workers also said higher sales targets in the offer were unrealistic and unethical, and would force them to load customers with debt that, in many cases, they did not need or could ill afford.

Westpac has said it believes pay is the central issue.