Media Release: FIRST Union

Friday August 31, 2012

Banks back to pre-crisis profits but the rest of us still missing out

Our big banks are back to pre financial crisis profits but staff and customers are still missing out, says the union representing bank workers.

The PwC report released today showed that the big five banks had a combined profit of nearly $2.5 billion in the first half of this financial year.

FIRST Union Finance Secretary Andrew Casidy said that our banks are some of the most profitable in the world but are not sharing enough of their profit. “The banks can afford some cost relief for customers and good pay rises for staff but instead they are scrimping.”

“When it comes to their staff, some banks are coming up with less for a pay rise for a couple of thousand workers than they pay just one person, their CEO,” said Casidy.

“At the same time they keep the acid on staff with unfair targets and unbelievable pressure to sell, sell, sell. Customers have said time and time again that they don’t want the ‘hard’ sell but the banks are failing to respond.”

“Our banking sector is characterised by poor pay increases, pushing debt onto customers and lack of accountability for their profit margins,” said Casidy. “Their profits may be good, but we’re still waiting for good news for customers and staff.”

Ends.

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