Union pushes for industry-wide pay claims for bank employees

The Finance Sector Union will press Labor to allow industry-wide bargaining claims to be pursued against the big four banks.

Labor workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor has said the ALP is examining support for multi-employer bargaining. Picture: AAP

The Finance Sector Union will press Labor to allow industry-wide bargaining claims to be pursued against the big four banks, as ­unions intensify pressure on the ALP to legalise sector-wide claims beyond low-paid industries such as childcare and cleaning.

After the Transport Workers Union this week urged Labor to extend industry-wide bargaining to airlines, the FSU yesterday called for major banks to be subjected to industry bargaining given the Hayne inquiry exposed a litany of remuneration-driven scandals.

But the union push ahead of the ALP national conference in Adelaide, starting tomorrow, is being resisted by the opposition, with senior ALP figures seeking at this stage to confine support for multi-employer bargaining to industries where workers are low-paid and industrially weak.

Senior union figures said they wanted broad support for multi-employer bargaining enshrined in the party platform and this commitment would be used to press for wider access to industry bargaining when Labor was finalising its workplace relations policy ahead of next year’s election.

“A lot of people get overexcited about the platform and its wording, but the main game is what will be in the actual election policy next year,’’ a senior union leader said.

Labor workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor has said the ALP is examining support for multi-employer bargaining but the party’s focus will be on modestly paid workers in areas such as childcare.

He reiterated yesterday his comments to the National Press Club on Wednesday when he said Labor would first determine how widely available multi-employer bargaining would be before determining rights to take industrial ­action in support of claims.

The FSU, which represents workers in banks, insurers and superannuation funds, believes industry-wide bargaining for Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and National Australia Bank — which together control 80 per cent of the financial system and employ nearly as many workers as the public service — would help tackle the “first mover” problems identified in the royal commission.

During hearings for the year-long inquiry into financial sector misconduct, bank chiefs and chairmen complained they couldn’t end conflicted remuneration because they would be undercut by competitors that didn’t also move to end kickbacks and profit-based bonuses.

A move by CBA to put more weight on customer satisfaction for executive bonuses was voted down by shareholders in 2016, while NAB chairman Ken Henry has complained large international institutional shareholders have rebuffed attempts to move away from a profit-at-any-cost pay scale.

FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said conflicted remuneration should be replaced by fixed pay.

“It is clear that bank culture regarding remuneration needs substantial change,” she said. “Regrettably, major bank board chairs have talked about culture taking 10 years. The Australian public deserves change far more quickly than that.”

Branch tellers can receive ­bonuses of up to about 10 per cent of their remuneration, while branch managers can earn up to 60 per cent. For senior executives bonuses can double their fixed ­salaries.