ACC changes dangerous for finance industry workers

Finsec warned that proposed changes to ACC will be dangerous for finance industry workers, in their submission to the select committee this week. General Secretary Andrew Casidy and Deputy President Maxine Mullen  addressed the committee and expressed particular concern about the threat to coverage of workers with gradual process injuries or OOS.

“These injuries are common in the banks and raising the bar for their rehabilitation could be devastating for those affected,” said Andrew Casidy. “This is coupled with other negatives for workers – the fact that pre-injury income no longer has to be taken into account, and a lower threshold of vocational independence of 30 hours per week represents a significant attack on ACC as we know it.”

Maxine Mullen presented to the committee a case study of a fictional bank worker experiencing the sharp end of the changes. The example shows that even if they were able to retain ACC coverage, and be rehabilitated to be able to work in another job, they could still lose 43% of their pre-injury income due to changes proposed in the Bill.

Help lift the freeze on low pay

Next Friday there will be rallies nationwide to campaign for fair pay for low paid workers in public services, schools and hospitals. The rallies – supported by Primary School Teachers Union NZEI Te Riu Roa, the SFWU and the Public Service Association,  are to send the government a message to lift their pay freeze on low paid workers. The rallies run from Kaitaia to Invercargill and many other places between, from 12.30 -1.30 next Friday 27 November.

There’s plenty of good reasons for Finsec members to give up our lunchtimes to attend. Firstly, low or no pay rises for these workers influence wage expectations in our own industry – and we need more than 0%! Also many of our friends and families will have jobs in this sector, and these union members need our support. And, the public services we all receive depend on the skills and experience of these workers!

Town                 Venue
Kaitaia             Cnr Redan/Commerce St
Whangarei             Main mall in town centre – Cameron/ James St Cnr
Auckland             Methodist Church on Queen Street
Thames             Outside the Civic Centre on Mary Street
Hamilton             Garden Place, Victoria St
Taumarunui             Next to library on “One Way Street”
Rotorua             Cnr of Arawa St and Ranolf St
Taupo                State Highway One – near Council Buildings
Tauranga     Red Square at bottom of town – Devonport St/The Strand/Spring St Cnr
Whakatane             The Strand/Commerce St (near roundabout)
Gisborne             Cnr of Gladstone Rd/Reads Quay (near the bridge)
Hastings             St Johns Hall Southland Rd
New Plymouth         If sunny: meet between centre city and Devon St
If wet: St Josephs Church
Hawera             Salvation Army Hall Regent St, marching up High
St to Chester Burrows office.
Whanganui            Majestic Square on Victoria Ave
Palmerston North         PSA House King Street and then march to Square
Levin                 Adventure Park Pavilion, Main Highway
Wairarapa             Old Folks Hall Cole Street
Wellington             Parliament
Nelson             Top of Trafalgar Street
Westport             Outside Hospital
Greymouth             Outside Grey Base Hospital, High Street
Christchurch             Victoria Square (march from TUC)
Ashburton             Checkerboard Town Centre
Timaru             Town Square cnr Strathallan and Strafford Sts
Dunedin             Octagon (march from Hospital)
Invercargill             Cnr Tay and Dee Streets

ANZ funded project causing havoc in Central Laos

Bank Track (www.banktrack.org) have released details of how the Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project (a dam and water diversion project partly funded by the ANZ) is threatening livelihoods and food security of communities in Central Laos.

The report says the programme is funded by banks, including the ANZ, who have committed to the Equator Principles, a set of social and environmental guidelines for private banks, and that this project was in violation of Lao law and the Equator Principles in many instances.

Bank Track is one of a coalition of organisations whose report, Expanding Failure explains how the project is displacing thousands of people. To see the full report go to http://www.banktrack.org/download/expanding_failure

British banks required to fess up on pay

Gordon Brown’s UK government proposed a law change this week requiring British banks to disclose the salaries and bonuses given to their highest-paid traders and executives.

The Financial Services Bill will compel banks to publish for the first time the number of executives it has in specific pay bands as well as the long-term remuneration of the most senior executives.

Brown told parliament “The banks and the financial institutions must understand that a return to their old ways is unacceptable. Our bill will automatically make any remuneration contract that contravenes the rules void and nullified.”
work

Ladies work for free!

This week saw an unfortunate milestone for women workers – the day of the year which marks, due to the gender pay gap, that we’re working the rest of the year essentially for free! In New Zealand, women earn on average 12% less per hour than men, and there’s 12% of the year left. In Wellington, “pay equity debt collectors” presented an invoice for $4 billion to government and business, the approximate annual subsidy women make to the economy through their undervalued work

Banking inquiry shows need for government to act to protect consumers

Finsec says the release of the report of the Parliamentary Banking Inquiry shows the government needs to act to protect consumers. The inquiry confirmed that major banks had not passed on the full benefit of OCR cuts into interest rates charged to customers, despite surviving the global financial crisis comparatively well, said Campaigns Director Tali Williams.

In one of the inquiry’s peer reviews, Professor John Quiggin suggests that “a better conclusion might be that the taxpayer is entitled to require that the banks will act as good corporate citizens’, a statement Finsec strongly supports.

As part of its submission to the Inquiry, Finsec proposed the establishment of a financial consumer protection agency similar to the one proposed by Barack Obama, to protect and inform consumers and monitor bank behaviour. “This inquiry outcome shows more than ever it is time for the government to consider what further monitoring and regulation of the banks is required to ensure the banks play fair with customers,” said Williams.

Wages fall….except for union members

In the past year, union members have achieved pay increases above the rate of inflation while non-unionised workers have seen their pay drop in real terms according to new statistics.
Labour Cost Index statistics show that the majority of workers (52%) got no increase, however it was almost entirely non-unionised workers who didn’t get pay raises. Nearly all non-union workers got an effective pay cut – 50% got 2% less than inflation, a few did even worse.
Nearly all union members got a pay rise above inflation – 50% got 1-3% above inflation, 25% got more than that.  These figures are backed up by the results Finsec members achieved this year – 2.25% increase in all of the big banks.

These figures are backed up by the results Finsec members achieved this year – 2.25% increase in all of the big banks. Clearly, unionism pays!

Analysis of Labour Cost Index statistics from http://www.thestandard.org.nz/

We’re asking George to slow down

Over 600 Westpac staff have signed and returned flyers to Finsec that ask Westpac to “slow down”. Staff across Branches, Operations, and Call Centres have participated in this activity because they’ve had enough of Westpac rushing change through and not listening to staff.

The flyers have now been sent directly to CEO George Frazis.

In a letter accompanying the flyers Finsec Union Council Chair Maxine Mullen said “It’s like the old saying – “you can do something right, or you can do it fast”. At the moment Westpac is doing it fast… We hope that you see our plea to “slow down” as a genuine attempt to make Westpac a better bank. Let’s slow down and do things right.”

We’ll keep you posted on the pace of Westpac’s restructuring frenzy!

Results of BNZ ratification vote

As the Gossip went out last week we were still finalising the results of the BNZ ratification vote. Drumroll, please….Finsec members at BNZ voted in favour of ratification.

60% voted to accept the offer and 40% voted to reject it. 74% of eligible Finsec members participated in the ratification vote.  The pay increase of 2.25% for the first year of the agreement will go through for the pay period of 10 December, backdated to 1 November.

Many Finsec members who voted to accept or to reject are concerned about the two year term and the pay offer for the second year. The loss of penal rates on Sundays, and the lack of concrete improvements to job security were also big concerns to many of our members, as was the fact that some staff are still not receiving the negotiated pay increase.

However, the pay offer is above inflation and is more than many workers have been able to achieve in bargaining this year and is on par with what we have achieved in the other major banks under our coverage. It was important to our members that we managed to hang on to the incentive pay schedule in our Collective. There have also been some important inroads made regarding redeployment in the event of redundancy.

Go home on time day

Australian workers are gearing up, well to chill out, on Go Home on Time Day. This November 25, the Australian Institute is encouraging workers to go home at the correct time instead of working the average of 49 minutes of unpaid overtime. The day is designed to raise awareness of the nature and extent of unpaid overtime in Australia and its’ important industrial, health and social consequences. The Gossip thinks this is a great idea – but not for just one day a year!!!