The Unionist Issue 33, December 23 2005

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As this is the final edition of the Unionist this year, we'd like to offer our warm wishes for a safe and happy festive season. The Unionist will be taking a break for summer, and will return in late January.

Feature Article ? Westpac Bank Workers On Strike Today

If you visit your local Westpac Bank branch today, you may find some familiar faces missing behind the desk. They may well have greeted you outside with a leaflet. In this week's Unionist feature article, we find out why 1500 Westpac workers are taking industrial action on the last business day before Christmas, and take a closer look at the ongoing campaign that the bank workers and their union Finsec are conducting to highlight the excessive sales targets New Zealand's largest bank is imposing on its staff.

So what's at issue here?

Westpac staff have been campaigning to change the way the bank compels them to sell debt products to customers through a series of targets and performance measures. As reported in the DominionPost last Saturday, Westpac customer service employees are set a target of 8,575 points per year. They get 10 points for opening a new account but they get an extra 25 points for selling a credit card. Customer sales staff are required to get 13,305 points. They get 5 points for every $10,000 of home loans they sell and 5 points for every $1,000 of personal lending.

Finsec's Campaign Director Karen Skinner is not impressed. "These targets are putting increasing stress on bank workers and on their customers alike, and also placing stress on the New Zealand economy. Why are staff paid incentives to get customers into more debt, and why is it if they dont sell enough their job can be threatened?" said Ms Skinner.

How is this an industrial matter? Why are the bank workers striking?

Staff want the bank to make an employment offer that removes the ethical dilemma they face when selling debt products to reach their target. They are also taking action over the latest pay offer the bank has made, for an annualized amount of 3.5%, when other collective agreements have settled for 5%.

Karen Skinner is calling on Westpac to stop compelling its staff to sell more and more debt to New Zealand customers. "Deliberately unachievable and unfair targets are not a fair measure of staff performance. Staff want Westpac to operate in a more ethical way in this country. That means listening to customer and staff needs."

What do the staff say?

At a series of union meetings recently, almost all members voted to make the following public statement to the community:

'Westpac sets staff targets to sell large amounts of lending and other products to customers each year. As Westpac staff we are concerned about these targets, and how they are managed. If staff don't reach these arbitrary targets, they miss out on pay. And our jobs might even be threatened. For us these targets cause stress, frustration and lost pay. For you, our customers, they can also cause stress and frustration. Westpac staff don't like doing that to you. We want to be paid for giving good service and quality advice.'

Is it just Westpac?

No, Westpac is not the only bank that Finsec has concerns with. Last month it launched a health and safety campaign to remove stress associated with high sales target demands and understaffing in the Bank of New Zealand. "When workers don't meet their targets they miss out on pay and can have their job threatened. It's stressful for workers trying to reach targets that keep moving away from them. And it's becoming stressful for customers who are constantly being sold products to feed the bank's greed for ever larger profits," said Karen Skinner.

Who else is talking about this?

The issue found support from the Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown yesterday, who was reported in the New Zealand Herald and Dominion as saying banks were encouraging their customers to take on debt they could not afford. Liz Brown was critical of the banks' practice of extending credit to customers who may not be able to afford repayments, and pre-approving credit cards to people who have not applied for them (NZPA, 22.12.05).

You can show your support for Finsec members at Westpac

There are events happening in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch today, to support the bank workers campaign.

Auckland - 10.30am March from St James theatre down Queen street. 11am rally outside Price Waterhouse Coppers Tower (Westpac head office), with carol singing and the giving of Christmas gifts to Westpac management.

Wellington - 12.15pm Rally outside 318 Lambton Quay branch. CEO Ann Sherry the Christmas grinch will make an appearance to accept a cheque for $611 million from NZ customers and staff.

Christchurch - 11.30am Picket outside the corner of Cashel and High St - Westpac's main back office centre and call centre. Bags of money will highlight Westpac's profit figure, which comes at the cost of staff and customers.