Westpac strike to go ahead, inflatable ‘capitalist pig’ expected to make appearance

The inflatable, cigar-chomping pig is expected to make an appearance at the Westpac strike. Photo / Paul Taylor

Unionised Westpac workers will go on strike tomorrow and have planned a demonstration in downtown Auckland.

“The strike goes ahead tomorrow,” FIRST Union organiser Bill Bradford told the Herald.

“Strike notices will be issued in a few hours,” he said just before noon.

Workers on strike were expected to include tellers, lenders, other public-facing roles, as well as some back office staff.

Planned strike action will take place nationwide with an estimated 800 to 900 union members.

“There are some branches around the country where members simply won’t go to work tomorrow,” Bradford added.

But the majority of actions were expected to involve two-hour strikes from 12pm to 2pm.

Bradford said workers on strike also planned to demonstrate outside Westpac’s Takutai Square corporate headquarters in Auckland’s Britomart.

He said the union planned to bring an inflatable “capitalist pig” for the demonstration.

Takutai Square in Britomart is expected to attract striking Westpac workers at lunchtime on Wednesday. Photo / Alex Burton

The capitalist pig and an inflatable rat were sometimes used in Auckland protests to demonstrate unions’ displeasure at certain employers.

The bank workers went to vote on strike action almost a month ago.

FIRST union said since 2021, Westpac workers received pay increases well below the inflation rate but bank profits were steady and executives and managers’ salaries continued to rise.

Callum Francis, the union’s national organiser for the finance sector, said those going on strike were the backbone of the bank.

“They’re not sitting somewhere in an ivory tower.”

He said many tellers were earning about $65,000 to $70,000 a year and lenders were often in the $75,000 to $80,000 range.

Many had a high workload and the bank and its customers depended on these workers to be efficient and productive, Francis said.

He said sales or performance targets for the frontline workers were often problematic.

“The bank says they don’t have targets, they have ‘expectations’.”

Westpac said it was aware of the strike action and was awaiting further details from the union.

The bank said its call centre and customer service phones would still be working tomorrow, including during the projected strike hours of noon to 2pm.

“We have plans in place across the business to minimise any disruption for customers, and we thank them for their understanding,” a Westpac spokesperson said today.

“We remain open to constructive discussion with the union on a resolution.”

The bank said it was mindful of cost of living pressures facing workers.

Westpac has repeatedly said it offered a 7 per cent pay increase over 18 months, above what it called the forecast inflation track, and had also offered a one-off cash payment.

The bank also said union members who rejected the company’s pay offer were a minority of its workforce.

Westpac New Zealand reported a 33 per cent fall in net profit to $426 million for the six months to March, with damaging impacts from severe North Island flooding blamed.

Francis said the cash payment offer was for $1000. He said the bank’s 7 per cent pay increase proposal meant those who accepted that offer now would not be able to get another pay rise for a year-and-a-half.

Bank worker strikers are rare in New Zealand.

Union members at ANZ and National banks walked off the job in 2008 after an impasse during collective agreement negotiations.

John Weekes is online business editor. He has covered courts, politics, crime and consumer affairs. He rejoined the Herald in 2020, previously working at Stuff and News Regional, Australia.