Following the announcement on Monday 12th May that Westpac proposes to take over St George and Bank SA, St George chief Paul Fagan was the first to break through the positive spin emanating from the two entities and confirm FSU’s fears that jobs will indeed be lost in a takeover.

Some commentators predict up to 5,000 jobs are at risk should the takeover be approved.

Looking back at previous mergers in our industry, FSU has grave concerns that types of jobs to be targeted, in all likelihood, will be in:

• Head offices
• Back office and processing centres
• Call centres
• Branches, particularly in regional areas currently serviced by both banks

Mistakenly, many people who are employed by the bank doing the taking over believe they will be protected from any fallout. History tells us this is not the case and employees from both companies suffer the impact of job losses.

FSU is committed to opposing the takeover to protect jobs in our industry.

We will be directly in touch with members in and out of the workplace throughout the campaign.

This is a good time for FSU members at Westpac, St George and Bank SA to ensure their contact details are completely up to date. Do we have your email address and mobile telephone number, for example? It’s also a good time to invite colleagues to join FSU.

If you have any questions or concerns at this stage, or you would like an FSU representative to visit your workplace, please call the Member Rights Centre on 1300 366 378 or email notakeover@fsunion.org.au .

Have your say on the merger! Go to the FSU's online forum on the takeover.