FSU and ANZ will commence negotiations for a new Enterprise Agreement (EA) in late April. The new EA will determine pay and conditions of employment for ANZ staff in Groups 4–6.
These negotiations are among the most important in years; ANZ employees face the worst cost of living crisis we’ve seen in a decade, plus accelerated changes to workplace practices due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our union recently surveyed staff throughout ANZ to establish the key priorities for a new Enterprise Agreement. The FSU’s Claim is based on this feedback. Our Claim includes the key concerns of members, and ensures the new EA maintains conditions of employment and meets the required statutory safeguards.
The key elements of the union’s Claim are:
- Salary and Superannuation
- Hours of Work and Staffing Levels
- Change and Job Security
- Working From Home
- Best Practice Employer
- Union Representation and Technical Matters
Pay ranked as the most important issue among ANZ colleagues, with 81% of survey respondents indicating that their current remuneration is failing to keep up with cost-of-living increases.
Over 97% of survey respondents agreed that ANZ should and can deliver an industry-leading pay increase that recognises increasing workloads and work complexity, and reflects our hard work. Fairness, transparency and equity must be applied in determining pay across all Groups.
Over 75% of survey respondents believe that current superannuation arrangements need to be increased to ensure colleagues can retire with certainty and dignity. Recent findings have demonstrated that of those retiring into poverty women are the most disproportionately affected, compounded by the gender pay gap.
FSU Claim
- Industry-leading pay, and increases that ensure wages stay ahead of cost-of-living increases
- Guaranteed, consistent, across the board, pay increases reflecting the valuable contribution of all employees
- Allowances to increase in alignment with pay increases
- Improved pay transparency including providing information to employees about pay market, and publishing of actual pay bands
- Increased superannuation contributions to support a dignified retirement for employees
- Superannuation contributions provided for on top of salary
- Uncapped and unconditional superannuation payments on periods of unpaid Parental Leave
The ability to complete work within ordinary hours is fundamental to ensuring a healthy work/life balance. However, over 50% of respondents indicated that they must work additional hours before and after their shift to satisfy the demands of their role.
Of those working extra hours, 70% said they have not been paid.
FSU Claim
- Maintain safe staffing levels that meet workload demands
- Ensure workloads are manageable and achievable within working hours
- Introduce a step-by-step process for filling permanent vacancies to ensure employees are not subjected to unreasonable workloads
- Introduce additional reasonable hours definition and safeguards for packaged employees
- Formation of a committee to discuss and establish a trial of a 30-hour working week
- Increase the eligibility for more employees to access Rostered Days Off
- Provide ‘Loyalty Leave’ to all employees regardless of tenure or annual leave usage or balance
The pace of change impacting ANZ colleagues is accelerating, and directly impacts their duties, roles, and opportunities. Only 25% of respondents believe that ANZ Management is doing enough to prepare colleagues for current and future changes.
88% of respondents believe that ANZ should be investing in training and reskilling before colleagues are impacted by change.
FSU Claim
- Consultation to occur before a definite decision has been made, to provide a real opportunity to influence the decision
- No further work performed by ANZ employees in Australia tobe outsourced or offshored
- Where work is already outsourced, ANZ will provide wages parity with employees covered by this agreement
- No forced redundancies over the life of the agreement
- No net reduction in retail branches across the network
- Minimum 4 week notice period for change of work location
- A redundant employee can only be redeployed into a role that is at the same level or above their current level
- Introduce a retraining payment to $5,000 where an employee is unable to be redeployed
- Introduction of status quo clause where parties are unable to agree on a matter in dispute
- The right for arbitration on any matter in dispute
- Establishment of a Future of Work Committee to discuss employment trends in the sector and opportunities for retraining and future-proofing of workers in the sector.
FSU members adapted quickly in the rapid move to working from home arrangements at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and would like to see this flexibility continue. 79% of survey respondents indicated it is important the option remains open into the future.
Installing safeguards around this provision is important; survey results indicate employees working from home have incurred additional costs (44%), increased hours of work/workloads (53%), an expectation to always be available (33%), and have not had a health and safety risk assessment carried out (87%).
FSU Claim
- Work from home should be a right contained within the EA
- Employees must be assured of their right to disconnect at the conclusion of their working day
- Workers must not be encouraged or rewarded for being constantly connected
- Records regarding employee working hours including breaks, starting and finishing times, must be kept and made available for inspection by a properly authorised person when required
- Working from home should not lead to cost shifting from employers to employees
- Privacy and fundamental rights must be respected
- Surveillance and performance monitoring is underpinned by principles of privacy, ethics, and transparency.
- Technology and equipment required to work from home should be provided by ANZ unless otherwise agreed
Members are proud to work at a progressive and diverse organisation like ANZ, with 81% of respondents indicating they agree ANZ is an inclusive workplace.
Members consider that ANZ has an opportunity to meet industry standards with entitlements that support our diverse internal community’s needs.
FSU Claim
- 26 weeks of paid parental leave to all employees regardless of their gender or role in the family, available from first day of employment
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural observance leave and an enforceable First Nations employment target
- Improved Gender Affirmation rights and leave
- Access to unlimited paid Domestic and Family Violence leave
- Religious and cultural observance leave for employees with diverse backgrounds
- Introduction of Menstrual and Menopause leave
- Mandatory Mental Health and Wellbeing training to include psychosocial hazards
- Mental Health First Aid training
Legislative requirements on what is contained in Enterprise Agreements within Australia are often updated or vary. It is important that any new Agreement meets these requirements including in relation to health and safety requirements and employees are not disadvantaged.
FSU Claim
- Review of ANZ Enterprise Agreement to ensure it is compliant with the relevant legislation
- Information about new employees provided to FSU for purposes of arranging in-person induction
- New employees to be provided with FSU membership form and 30minutes paid time for an in-person FSU induction
- One hour paid time off per month for FSU representatives, for purposes of meeting with FSU official (factored into staffing plans and without affecting reasonable paid time provision)
- Update of honorary official positions within Industrial Leave provision to reflect new FSU rules
FSU will continue to seek ongoing feedback and input from members. We reserve the right to raise additional claims during bargaining, including any other clauses required to give effect to this claim and to ensure that the Enterprise Agreement is compliant with relevant legislation.
Join your colleagues to secure our claim!
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