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Issue No. 158 | 25 October 2002 |
The Sirens' Song
Interview: The Wet One Bad Boss: Like A Bastard Unions: Demolition Derby Corporate: The Bush Doctrine Politics: American Jihad Health: Secret Country Review: Walking On Water Culture: TCF Poetry: The UQ Stonewall
10,000 Rally in Support of Kingham Negligent Bosses Labelled �Serial Killers� Ambulance Officers Win $6 Million Back-Pay IT Outsourcing Agencies Called To Account Pay to Work Spreads to Hornsby Howard Opens Waters to Rogue Ship Boxes of Books for Good Causes
The Soapbox Postcard Month In Review The Locker Room Bosswatch Wobbly
Brooklyn Phil Says ... Here Comes the WTO From Little Finks ... The Mouth From the South! Ushering the Rusted Shield Echoes of DLP
Labor Council of NSW |
News Cuts Equals Profits for ANZ
The ANZ bank this week announced a record $2.3 billion profit, admitting shareholders were far happier with performance than the rest of the community. ANZ Bank chief executive John McFarlane conceded the community has little trust in banks. "We've probably done a better job with our shareholders than we have done with our customers and with the community." Finance Sector Union national secretary Tony Beck says the multi-billion profit speaks for itself - the customers and staff have paid for it. "The bank relies heavily on fees and charges despite claims to the contrary," Beck says. Mr Beck slammed the bank on staffing issues saying that the ANZ had cut its workforce by 50% in ten years. "ANZ staff are forced to do more with less, day in day out. The result is higher stress and longer queues." "The ANZ is now the only major bank without a new enterprise agreement. That leaves ANZ staff at the mercy of higher workloads, cutbacks and job losses." Earlier this year, the FSU concluded enterprise agreements with Westpac, Commonwealth and National Banks that guaranteed better staffing. The FSU wants the ANZ to live up to its rhetoric about caring for the community and to plough some of the profits back into the community by employing more staff. "The ANZ could start by employing enough staff to give customers the service they are paying for," Beck says. HIH Execs Greed In other news from the finance sector five former HIH executives, including chief executive Ray Williams and deputy George Sturesteps, have challenged the carve-up of a $10 million surplus in the failed insurer's superannuation fund in a move that will delay and erode the entitlements of up to 1000 former employees. The executives have accused the fund trustee of "unjust, inequitable and discriminatory" conduct in calculating their payouts from the fund. Staff-appointed fund trustee Michael Rook said he was "bitterly disappointed" with the challenge, saying the action will add to the cost of the court proceedings to wind up the fund, and delay payouts for other members until next March. "What they [the executives] are saying is they want more from the fund and, as a consequence, everyone else will get less," says Rook.
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