NAB workers offered 17.5 per cent in pay rises

National Australia Bank workers earning up to $100,000 will be offered pay rises totalling 17.5 per cent over four years.

Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano. Picture: Hollie Adams

National Australia Bank employees earning up to $100,000 annually will be offered pay rises totalling 17.5 per cent over four years under a wage deal that locks in working from home rights for thousands of workers.

The Finance Sector Union, whose members last year voted down an earlier proposed agreement, will recommend staff accept the “industry-leading” deal that includes increases to parental leave for women and men.

Under the pay offer, employees earning up to $100,000 a year would receive annual 5 per cent increases in 2023 and 2024; a 4 per cent rise in 2023 and a 3.5 per cent increase in 2026.

Staff earning between $100,000 and $110,300 would receive a 4.5 per cent rise this year; 3.5 per cent in 2024; 2.5 per cent in 2025 and 2 per cent in 2026.

Workers earning between $110,300 and $140,000 would get increases totalling 11 per cent over four years and those currently earning between $140,001 and $165,000 would get 8.5 per cent.

FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said the improved NAB position was a win for the thousands of workers who rejected the bank’s previous offer.

“Union members, acting collectively, gave the NAB a clear message that they deserved better pay rises than the bank was prepared to pay them and by standing their ground, have achieved a much fairer outcome,” Ms Angrisano said.

“More than 80 per cent of NAB staff have now secured guaranteed fixed salary increases instead of relying on NAB’s ­market-based model, which eroded our members’ standard of living.”

The proposed agreement includes increases to parental leave and measures to address the gender pay gap, including superannuation paid on all periods of paternity leave.

It provides three days’ paid leave for cultural observance by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and workplace arrangements to accommodate workers with mental health challenges or who are enduring menopause or menstruation.

Ms Angrisano said while some improvements had been made to address the “hours of work crisis at NAB that is putting immense strain on employees’ physical and emotional wellbeing, more needs to be done”.

“The union is continuing to pursue NAB through its Federal Court action to achieve recognition of these harmful work practices,” she said

Ms Angrisano said FSU members at the Commonwealth Bank and ANZ expected those banks would now match the benchmark set by the NAB.

The proposed agreement’s WFH clause includes an entitlement to request and access working from home arrangements.

The clause sets out a process for the application and establishment of WFH arrangements including limitations on the ground for the employer to refuse a request and access to a dispute process including escalation to the Fair Work Commission should a request be unreasonably refused.

It has a two-week notice period for any change to WFH arrangements, except in exception­al circumstances.

In April, NAB chief executive Ross McEwan ordered senior leaders back to the office, five days a week, as part of his push to return to pre-pandemic work routines.

NAB’s minimum requirement of its broader workforce has been for them to spend a minimum two or three days a week in the office.

The Commonwealth Bank has ­directed employees to work in the office at least 50 per cent of the time instead of working from home, sparking anger from the ­FSU, which claimed that the bank’s “edict” ­had breached their enterprise agreement.

An NAB spokeswoman declined to comment on the proposed agreement ahead of briefing employees.