Bank secrecy driving down pay, entrenching gender gap: unions

Commonwealth Bank pay secrecy clauses leave female workers suspecting they are paid less than male counterparts but with no proof, their union says.

Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano says it is time for the Commonwealth Bank to rethink its wage secrecy policy. Picture: Hollie Adams

Pay secrecy clauses are entrenching the gender pay gap among Commonwealth Bank employees, according to a union report that alleges the bank is saving at least $500m annually on its wages bill.

The Finance Sector Union surveyed 284 CBA workers about their experience of pay secrecy, if it was enforced and its impact on their working environment.

Ninety-four per cent said they understood they were not supposed to talk about their pay at work, while more than 90 per cent believed they could get in trouble if they did.

According to the survey, ­female employees believed they were being paid less but felt powerless to complain or seek a pay review because they were not allowed to discuss remuneration and bonuses.

“When employees are prohibited from discussing pay and bonuses with colleagues, it allows managers to get away with making decisions about pay based on conscious or unconscious bias,” the report says.

“Pay confidentiality is well known for contributing to the gender pay gap.

“It is no surprise to learn that the finance industry is one of the worst performing industries each year when it comes to the gender pay gap, given their reliance on pay confidentiality clauses.

Based on research by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work economist Jim Stanford, the FSU says the gender pay gap at CBA results in reduced compensation for female employees of “at least half a billion dollars each year, and likely more”.

FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano alleged CBA staff were “bullied, intimidated, harassed and threatened with the sack for speaking to each other about their pay and bonuses”.

“This ban by the bank seeks to entrench the gender pay gap and given the CBA cannot see the problem, it is time for the federal government to take action and outlaw these confidentiality clauses,” she said.

A CBA spokesman “totally” rejected the union claims. “Their numbers are wrong, and frankly appear to be made up,” he said.

“The $500m figure does not exist. The union’s claim that the gender pay gap at CBA is 29 per cent is completely wrong.”

The CBA says its employment contracts contain standard clauses of confidentiality.