FSU calls on parties to battle off-shoring
After last week’s comments on off-shoring made by Coalition leader Tony Abbott, the Finance Sector Union (FSU) has again called for all political parties to voice concerns and introduce specific measures to protect Australian finance jobs.
The FSU has again called on all political parties to adopt specific policies that protect Australian jobs and skills from the practice of off-shoring.
It follows comments made by Coalition leader, Tony Abbott, that it is “sometimes unfortunate” to lose a job to lower-cost labour sourced overseas, “but that there will be other jobs you can go to.”
The FSU warned that the practice of replacing Australian workers in favour of low-cost workers in countries like India and the Philippines by banks and finance companies had seen some 5,500 finance jobs lost in Australia in recent years.
The FSU suggested that the full effects of off-shoring should be investigated, and that legislation should be introduced that requires customers be informed of the physical location of the staff members they speak to.
FSU policy director Rod Masson criticised Abbott’s approach, adding there had not been much more detail forthcoming from the Government or the Greens addressing the issue.
“Our members, working for hugely profitable Australian companies, are under very real pressures in terms of immediate threats to their jobs and to meet service demands when positions are sent off-shore,” said Masson.
“Off-shoring benefits no one but the company’s bottom line. It affects bank workers, insurance workers, customers and communities and the Australian economy suffers as a whole,” he added.
Recent FSU Better Banking survey revealed 93 per cent of workers sought a commitment from the Government and banks to stop off-shoring.
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