Recently the CEO of CBA was asked by a member of the parliamentary standing committee about the clauses in CBA contracts that say employees can’t talk about their pay.
He said that CBA didn’t enforce those, and acknowledged that it’s not a great approach – including clauses you don’t intend to use.
Then, less than a month later, CBA sacked a lender for talking about his pay. Whether it’s CBA’s intention to sack people for this kind of thing or not, these clauses only serve to prevent inequities being discussed and solved. They mean that people are hesitant to speak up because they’re worried that they might be disciplined for how they discovered an issue to do with their pay.
These pay confidentiality clauses are one of the key things that perpetuate the gender pay gap. Which is partly why they’re illegal in the UK and the US.
When they’re asked about this, CBA management are adamant that pay confidentiality clauses are not “enforced”. We think there’s a little more to it than that. So we’re conducting a survey.
Can you take 3 mins to tell us what your experience at CBA is?
We are going to be producing a report containing case studies that demonstrate the adverse impact that pay secrecy has on workers. This will include anonymous stories and you can be reassured that no one will be identified – or even have their story included anonymously – without your express permission. Any information you share will only be used by FSU staff.
Your FSU Team
P.S Forward this message to your colleagues so they can sign the petition too.