Bank staff owed $8m

WESTPAC will pay back approximately $8 million to 8000 staff not paid their correct long service leave entitlements.

The group advised on Friday that it would be remediating current and former employees who were paid the wrong amount due to some “calculation errors”.

“The errors led to underpayment and overpayment of some long service leave entitlements and were identified as part of a review of Westpac’s payroll and long service leave arrangements,” the bank said.

Group executive of enterprise services, Alastair Welsh said the bank was putting in measures to ensure employee long service leave was calculated correctly.

AUSTRALIAN businesses are suffering under a United Nations agreement that means shipping online goods is cheaper from China than from here, an inquiry has been told.

In a submission to a Senate inquiry, Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell (pictured) has criticised the Universal Postal Union’s rates, which are aimed at ensuring all its member countries can afford international postage.

Under the agreement, China is classified as a developing country, meaning it pays cheaper postage than Australia, despite being the world’s second biggest economy and home of the world’s biggest ecommerce company, Alibaba.

It means buying online from China can be cheaper than from an Australian seller.

“My office has received a number of complaints from small businesses regarding the price competitiveness of domestic parcel delivery as opposed to international parcel delivery for same or similar products,” Ms Carnell said.

Ms Carnell called on Australia Post to renegotiate its UPU agreement terms so Australian small businesses could compete on a level playing field