Banks -- more of "the whole truth" The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, November 3rd, 1999. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au> Subscription rates on request. ****************************** Banks that have closed branches and transferred staff to provide services through pharmacies and newsagents face a massive back- pay claim following a landmark Federal Court ruling in September. A Full Bench of the Federal Court ruled that workers at a Byron Bay bank who moved to a pharmacy when the branch closed should have taken their bank sector wages and conditions with them. Instead they were employed under an inferior pharmacy award. The Finance Sector Union (FSU) said the big banks are planning to establish hundreds of so-called "bragencies" around rural Australia as a cost-cutting measure. But by ruling that the outsourcing amounts to a "transfer of business" the Federal Court has taken one of the key drivers - reduced labour costs - out of that equation. FSU national industrial officer Michael Clifford said the Byron Bay case was a stark one. The bank staff who transferred from the St George branch to the pharmacy next door kept the same counters, the same uniforms and served the same customers. "The builders came in over a weekend, tore down the wall between the bank and the pharmacy and the workers were offered the option of the new job with lower penalty rates and other conditions, or the prospect of unemployment", Clifford said. In light of the decision, Clifford said the union will examine all the major banks' outsourcing plans, predicting hundreds of workers may be able to recover money following the Court decision. "The FSU has taken this court action as a clear message to the finance industry. We will not allow the terms and conditions of our members to be cut through outsourcing deals", Clifford said. FOOTNOTE: Watch this week as the major banks report on their billions of dollars of profits, primarily made by closing branches and customer fees. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
