NZ bank workers ask Australian CEO for their weekends

Representatives of the thousands of ANZ and National Bank staff who walked off the job last week, will attempt to table a report to ANZ Australian CEO John McFarlane, who is in New Zealand tomorrow.

Representatives and members will be outside the ANZ Centre in Auckland at 8am tomorrow, to greet the CEO and other ANZ National board members as they walk into their board meeting. They will attempt to table a report outlining why they want their weekends to be valued fairly.

In Australia all ANZ staff receive recognition for working evenings or weekends. ANZ National currently wants to deny that compensation for many New Zealand workers, including National Bank retail staff and all new employees.

“ANZ Australia recently announced $180 million profit in three months and a yearly increase in assets of over $2 billion. Most bank tellers earn less than the average wage. Our members are asking simply for their weekends to be valued, just like in Australia.” said Finsec organiser, Michael Wood.

Finsec represents 3,700 staff throughout ANZ National, making this contract negotiation the largest private sector negotiation in New Zealand. Last week thousands of bank workers from ANZ National banks walked off the job for a morning, concerned that their weekends would no longer be recognised as special by their employer.

Finsec and bank representatives will meet on Friday to further negotiate on these issues.

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