Negotiations will commence shortly on a new Enterprise Agreement for St George/Bank SA. Amongst the issues raised by FSU members is superannuation on parental leave. 

Under a new policy announced today by CEO Gail Kelly, Westpac will pay employer superannuation contributions on up to 40 weeks of unpaid parental leave. 

This goes some additional way to meeting calls by FSU members for increases to employer superannuation contributions. The FSU will push to entrench this improvement in the new St George/BankSA Agreement. 

Research shows that many women have inadequate retirement funds. One of the contributing factors to this has been the fact that most employers do not pay superannuation contributions when employees are on parental leave.  

St George/BankSA leads the pack on parental leave 

The new arrangement comes into effect for all leave taken on or after 1 July 2010, making the bank's Parental Leave arrangements the best amongst all the major banks. 

When an employee returns from parental leave St George/BankSA will make a lump sum contribution into BT Super for Life on behalf of the employee. Employees will be able to open a new account if they are not already members of BT Super for Life. 

Employees will be able to keep their funds in the BT Super for Life account or can rollover these funds without penalty (ie no exit fee) and put them into their existing nominated Super Fund.

Need more Information? 

For information on the new arrangement contact the FSU Member Rights Centre on 1300 366 378. Members seeking specific financial advice should contact a qualified Financial Advisor.