ASB has announced a wage freeze for all staff on $50,000.
Finsec President Kelvin Pycroft said the ceiling for the wage freeze was far too low, and the ASB should have followed their parent company the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and frozen wages above $100,000 only.
“The main difference between the bank’s Australian and New Zealand staff is that in Australia they are union members while the ASB is un-unionised. Hence they get lumped with a far worse wage freeze than their Australian colleagues, and can’t do anything about it.”
“ASB has targeted middle income earners who can ill afford this freeze – and their employer announced an after tax profit of $238 million for the first six months of their financial year.”
Pycroft said that with inflation at 3 percent the wage freeze was in fact a 3 percent pay cut. “The financial crisis should not be used as justification to cut or freeze pay when banks continue to make large profits despite the current conditions.”
Finsec is calling on the other banks not to follow ASB’s lead by freezing wages when they can afford reasonable wage increases for staff.
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