At the end of last year, more than 600 members working for CBA in New South Wales and Queensland had delivered letters to the bank disputing the targets that had been imposed on them.

Yesterday, seven FSU Reps from CBA retail areas held talks with the bank about the targets dispute.
During the two hour meeting the FSU Reps relayed a significant number of actual accounts of the struggles and pressures CBA retail bankers are facing on a daily basis trying to reach the individual targets and achieve CES results. The Reps were well-prepared, confident and united and the 600+ members involved in the dispute were ably represented.

You can read more about this meeting, and the fantastic Reps who represented CBA workers, here.

The actions of these FSU Reps really epitomises what our union is all about – finance workers standing up for fairness and respect at work, sticking together and looking out for each other.

And we will be relying on that collective spirit over coming months, as banks reduce costs (and jobs) in order to protect their record profits (see related media below), as insurance workers go flat out to deal with the increase in claims that we’re likely see in the event of more weather events and natural disasters, and as workers in super funds adapt to changing dynamics. Credit union workers aren’t off the hook, with credit union numbers continuing to decline and more mergers potentially on the cards.

Offshoring is another issue impacting on our industry, with both Suncorp and Westpac actively moving jobs overseas, and ANZ and NAB continuing their long-running offshoring programs.

And in the midst of this turmoil there are still the bread and butter issues of improving and protecting employee entitlements through enterprise bargaining, advocacy and enforcement, and issues based campaigns, such as the CBA targets dispute, that aim to improve the working lives of finance sector employees.

The only way to make a difference for the men and women working in finance is to act collectively, and be part of a strong union.

I hope you managed to have a refreshing break over the festive season – it’s shaping up to be another big year for us all.

Leon Carter
FSU National Secretary