Cbus Super workers secure new EA with landmark AI provisions

An industry-first agreement will look to protect one Australian fund’s workers in the age of ChatGPT with a new “gold standard”.

Workers with superannuation fund Cbus Super have secured a set of landmark provisions to protect employees from disruption in the artificial intelligence age.

In the new enterprise agreement, now in place to June 2027, the union-affiliated fund must consult with staff on the implications of generative AI models such as ChatGPT in the workplace and must notify workers whose roles are “materially impacted” by AI.

Finance Sector Union national assistant secretary Nicole McPherson heralded the agreement, which covers some 700 employees, as a new “gold standard” for Australia’s financial sector.

“In relation to AI, there’s industry-first protections … with an extra five days’ consultation time if a role is impacted by AI,” she said.

Cbus Super has agreed to a new enterprise agreement with specific AI clauses. Picture: NewsWire / Glenn Hunt

“The joint consultative committee, made up of employer and union representatives, has to consider AI.

“At a time when workers in all industries are rightly scared about the impact of AI on their jobs, we are pleased to have secured an agreement that provides real involvement for workers on issues that affect them.

“This agreement is testament to the close collaboration we had in the lead-up to bargaining with the Cbus people and culture team.

“Their willingness to engage in productive conversations on the need for this clause helped lay the groundwork in bargaining.”

The agreement also includes a sweep of improved conditions for female workers and new parents, with five days of reproductive and pathways to parenthood leave added to the existing 12 days of paid menopause and menstruation leave from the previous EA.

It delivers a 12.5 per cent pay increase over three years, beginning with a 4.5 per cent annual pay increase backdated to July 1.

Cbus Super chief people officer Justine Hartman said the company would provide “progressive industry-leading conditions” through the agreement.

“We are delighted to have finalised this benchmark agreement with the union,” she said.