Finsec calls on ANZ to prove NZ commitment

-press release

Friday 18th April 2008

Bank workers union Finsec is calling on ANZ National to put its money where its mouth is and make a series of broad commitments to staff, customers and communities affected by its proposal to offshore up to 500 jobs to Bangalore, India.

"The bank has been avoiding scrutiny of their offshoring proposal by making vague statements about all affected staff being offered a job," said Andrew Campbell, Finsec Campaigns Director. "They now need to prove to their workers, customers and the wider community that these are more than just hollow words."

"ANZ National needs to back up it's spin on the offshoring of up to 500 jobs to Bangalore and make a series of concrete commitments guaranteeing permanent jobs to affected staff and guaranteeing growth in overall jobs as it said yesterday it intended to do," said Campbell.

"The bank may say that they will be able to offer everyone a job, but we know they are going to be very different jobs with different skills and often different pay. The least the bank can do is give affected workers some concrete guarantees they will not be disadvantaged by the proposal," said Campbell.

Finsec says the public need to be assured that ANZ National will keep faith with New Zealanders and that the bank must make the following pledges to their staff, customers and the wider community:

1. Guarantee all affected staff a job within the bank that has pay and conditions equivalent to what they have now and guarantee future wage increases if staff accept a job on lower pay.
2. Give all affected staff job security for a minimum of three years in the case of redeployment.
3. Maintain existing staffing numbers (not cut them) and create an additional 500 new full time positions to meet its job growth commitments given yesterday.
4. Guarantee that there will be no further offshoring of jobs for a minimum of three years.
5. Commit to Industry Training for all bank staff so those skills are recognised and transportable within the rest of the finance sector.
6. Undertake a public stakeholder consultation process (which includes customers) that will look into issues such as risk, customer data security, service standards and the economic and community impact of the proposal.

Campbell says that these commitments would give the bank's public statements meaning. "Failure to make these pledges would expose the bank's words yesterday as mere spin and damage their already tarnished public reputation."

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