Major regional home loan lender in industrial trouble.

The St George Bank, a regional Australian home loan lender, has it hands full with industrial relations trouble on its moves to sack local workers and outsource the work to low cost overseas workers.

The Finance Sector Union (FSU) have had a meeting with St George Bank management , after staff who are being made redundant refused to train their replacements yesterday.

FSU national secretary Paul Schroder says the jobs of 60 IT staff from Kogarah in Sydney are being outsourced.

Mr Schroder says the staff voted to defy orders to train their replacements, who were flown in from India this week.

“You can get people to work for less than $100 per week to do this work,” he said.

“This bank is a profitable bank – it doesn’t need to do this but it is doing this to cut its own costs.

“We think that’s the wrong decision for the whole economy and for the bank in particular.

“But it’s particularly nasty to expect the people who are losing their jobs to train the people who are taking them.”

St George Bank spokesman Jeremy Griffith says the workers do not have to train their replacements if they do not want to.

The bank says it has invited [the sacked] staff to apply for jobs in other areas.

About: Rick Adlam: Rick Adlam has been helping clients with home loan finance since 1985 when he was home consultant with AV Jennings. Rick started Equity Home Loans in 1996 to help homeowners become property investors. Rick currently consults in the development of Mr Mortgage for mortgage brokers and HomeMate for new home buyers. Website: http://www.mrmortgage.com.au