Unions – the ultimate insurance!

Finsec members from the insurance sector have met in Auckland and Wellington this week to plan for the year ahead and discuss important issues in the industry.

The meetings focused on how to increase Finsec’s profile in the industry, and to build our strength to achieve even better outcomes. Aki Kisona (pictured at left), a Finsec Union Councillor from Asteron, said the meeting provided a great opportunity for union members from throughout the sector to get together and talk through issues.

“The meeting showed that we’re all going through similar things at work, and that we share common views on how to improve things. We also generated a lot of good ideas about retention and increasing our membership,” said Aki.

Expect to see more Finsec news from the insurance industry in the new year, as ideas from the forums are put into action!

Talks continue on IAG pay system

Finsec representatives met with IAG this week to further discussions on their proposed new remuneration system. The purpose of the meeting was to get more detail on IAG’s proposals, and to provide initial feedback. A further meeting will most likely take place in February, where more information will be available on the impact of the new system.

IAG negotiations set to begin

Finsec members will be bargaining their new collective employment agreement with IAG on Monday and Tuesday next week. They will be putting forward the following key claims:

1. A 5% across the board pay increase
2. The inclusion of salary ranges in the Collective Agreement
3. A guarantee of reaching 100% of the salary range after five years of service.
4. An increase in annual leave by 2 days to twenty days per year. Twenty five days on the completion of five years service, or 10 years service in the industry.

They will also talk to the company in broader terms around options for the provision of childcare, workplace savings, topping up paid parental leave, and recognising the contribution of Finsec members to collective bargaining.

As with many other Finsec members a fairer pay system is the number one goal. The poor old delegates at IAG have taken on the thankless task of trying to articulate the pay matrix

(Thanks to John Baird for the photo)

IAG negotiations begin soon

IAG negotiations for a new Collective Agreement are due to start on September 11. Finsec members at the Southern Claims Centre met to discuss their claims for the negotiations. Finsec members at other sites are meeting with delegates and organisers by phone to talk about their priorities for negotiations.

Members at IAG have identified membership growth as their most important task between now and negotiations. Members and delegates are hanging posters and handing out flyers to non members in the period before negotiations start.

(Thanks to alykat for the photo)

The Matrix (…reloaded…)

Save us Neo! Is it possible to have a nice simple cost of living pay increase without needing to plug it into a matrix, convolute it, complicate it and frame it in a manner that means many workers will struggle to advance through the pay scale? Westpac started the pay matrix craze in the New Zealand finance industry. Recently IAG jumped on the bandwagon and now Vero wants to have a go. Finsec members at Vero are currently meeting and voting on a negotiation proposal from Vero for a 20 month agreement, with a 2.6% increase for the first 8 months and then the introduction of a pay matrix for the next 12 months which is explained in more depth here… Confused. So am I. As Morpheus says: “Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.”

(Thanks to Pixilior for the photo)