Bank Merge Could Cost 5000 Jobs

The Age

Wednesday May 14, 2008

Tom Arup

THE Financial Sector Union is not ruling out strike action as part of a major campaign to stop the proposed merger between Westpac and St George Bank.

National secretary Leon Carter was sketchy on the exact details of the FSU's campaign yesterday but revealed at a news conference the union would target shareholders to convince them to vote against the merger.

Mr Carter said the merger could cost up to 5000 Westpac and St George employees their jobs.

When Mr Carter was asked whether he would rule out strike action, he said: "We are not ruling out any industrial action that we may take over the coming months as a response to this proposed takeover."

The union is preparing to meet some of the 15,000 FSU members who are Westpac and St George employees to discuss further campaigns.

Mr Carter said the FSU had also been in contact with Treasurer Wayne Swan's office and was preparing a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

"We will take the campaign directly to the banks," he said. "We will take it to their shareholders. We will take it to every level of government until it is heard that this takeover is bad for consumers, it is bad for competition and it is disastrous for the people who work for Westpac and St George."

Westpac yesterday hinted at job cuts in the support, back-office and product areas of the bank.

In a news conference, Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly said the merger proposal created good opportunities for "synergy".

St George chief executive Paul Fegan echoed the comments, adding: "Westpac has indicated opportunities in terms of sources for synergy, both revenue and cost, and the reality in some of those is there will be some job losses."

But Mr Fegan said that some of the takeover outlines suggested job losses would be kept to a minimum.