St George opts to keep 200 IT workers

St George Bank has this week decided not to outsource 200 of its back-of-house IT workers to IBM, garnering praise from the Finance Sector Union (FSU).

St George had been reviewing the possibility of outsourcing 200 roles to IBM, with which St George's parent company Westpac currently has a billion-dollar deal.

However, the bank has now decided that it will keep the 200 workers, who are based in the Sydney suburb of Kogarah.

"As we said publicly, this was a review only," the bank said in a statement. "After completing the review, we made a decision to not make any changes."

The FSU said that the decision to keep the workers was the result of union members standing strong, and collectively making the case to St George that outsourcing the work would cost the bank valuable skills and expertise.

Geoff Derrick of the FSU said that he is pleased with the decision to keep the IT workers in-house.

"This is a great outcome for not only the St George IT workers, but for the Kogarah community. Maintaining a strong presence with high skill, well-paid jobs at the Montgomery Street site is integral to the future viability of the local economy," he said.