Finsec, New Zealand's finance sector union

RECRUITMENT KIT
BETTER BANKS - BNZ 2007

Hi Everybody

Growing our union is critical to achieving our goals of fairer targets, more staffing and better pay. It is also important to ensure we have a strong membership base to stop any worsening of our terms and conditions that the BNZ may put forward in negotiations.

Everyone taking part in recruiting new members to be part of our campaign is essential to our success. We only have three weeks until negotiations. In this time we must win the support of non-members and grow our membership in order to achieve the positive change that is needed to make BNZ a great place to work.

This recruitment pack is designed to help you to recruit in your workplace. It provides you with:

A model recruitment conversation to help you with talking to non-members about the issues we are working on.
Some suggestions about how to deal with concerns that may come up about joining.
Some information about the things that may be said or done to discourage people from joining and stop us from winning.
A flyer for you to give to non-members in your worksite (pdf file).

We are all in this together. Finsec organisers time is committed entirely to talking to non-members in your site too about joining Finsec so we are in a stronger position for negotiations. We need your help in doing this too

Thank you for your work so far as a delegate and thank you in advance for your work building our membership so that we can build power to win.

Regards,

Callum Francis
Chair of the BNZ Union Council

MODEL 1-TO-1 CONVERSATION

Talking to workers one on one is vital to growing our union and building power to win on the issues important to BNZ staff. Please use this conversation to talk to staff who are not in the union on your worksite about joining.

INTRODUCE YOURSELF

“Hi, Finsec members in BNZ are working to make significant improvements to targets, staffing and pay. It is important that you know about this because the changes we are seeking will affect you too. Have you got a minute to have a talk about it?”

FIND OUT ABOUT THE ISSUES

“What are the things that you would most like to see changed here at BNZ?
How do you feel about your targets?
How do you feel about staffing levels here? Would you like to see them increased?
Did you know that many staff at BNZ on 100% are paid less than staff at ANZ National? Do you think that is fair? “

BUILD A PLAN TO WIN

“Union members have a plan to fix the problem at BNZ and we need your help. Do you think the bank would take us more seriously if all the staff at BNZ said these problems need to be fixed?”

“That is why we need to build union membership here. We are more likely to achieve our goals if we have strong membership“

“As a result of Finsec campaigning, Westpac is moving towards minimising the use of targets in their pay system, have recommendations to increase staffing levels and won increases to pay levels at 100% of up to 11.8%. We can also achieve our goals at BNZ if we grow stronger.”

ASK TO JOIN

“Given that you want to see changes occur and that this will only happen if we have a strong union I suggest that you join now. “
“As I see it there are two options. The first is to do nothing and things will stay the same or get worse. The second is to join the union and have a go at making a difference. What do you think will happen if you don’t join? Will things get better? If you and others join we can make things better and we can make real progress on the issues we are fighting for. “

“Here is a membership form to fill in.”

WRAP UP

“Congratulations on joining and being part of the campaign to make BNZ a Better Bank. “

DEALING WITH CONCERNS

It is normal for people to be unsure about joining a union. Often your co-workers will have objections to joining. It is important when talking to our fellow workers that we aim to overcome these objectionsby discussing the issues with them further. If done respectfully and appropriately, it is OK to continue the discussion after someone raises a concern - it does not need to t be the end of the conversation. This page provides some tips for helping to overcome possible objections.

When someone has a concern it is important that you do the following:

EXPLORE

Use open questions and listen actively to find out why the person has that concern and why they think like that. If you do this you have something tangible to talk through.

EQUALISE

Acknowledge their position or feelings. This acknowledgement increases the chance that they will listen to your point of view or change their own views.

EDUCATE

Talk about the concern and move beyond it. Do this by going back to the issues you were discussing and the need to change things.
Below are some common concerns that people have about joining a union and some suggested answers.

Concern:

”Why should I join the union when I’ll get exactly the same wages and benefits without joining?”

Possible Answer:

Explore: Why do you think this will happen?
Equalise: I can see what you are saying
Educate: What if what we get is worse than what we have? You will get that too right? That is why everyone needs to be in the union. What we get is dependent on how strong we are. If everyone relied on someone else to do the work there would be no union. What do you think we would get then?

We also need to consider what we are not getting. If we are not strong enough then targets and staffing will continue to get worse. Non members will get worse targets and staffing too.

Concern:

“I can’t afford to join. The fees are too high.”

Possible Answer:

Explore = Do you know what the fees are?
Equalise = I can appreciate any money coming of our pay can hurt.
Educate = However anything of value has a cost attached to it. We all need to ask how much a fair workplace is worth to us.

Fees are our major source of income. This makes us accountable to members and independent of the bank. We need fees to resource campaigns that will see fair pay rises and good working conditions for you now and in the future. It’s only about a dollar a day for you to have a voice at work.

Concern:

“Can I think about It? Can I take the form home?”

What is it you want to think about? I’m here to answer any questions you have.

OR - “I need to discuss it with my wife/ husband/ relative”

What is it that you’d like to talk about? I’m sure your family want the terms and conditions of your job improved and protected.

OR - “I’m in hurry”

We’re talking about important issues that affect you. What time would be good for me to talk to you.

OVERCOMING NEGATIVE TACTICS

It is possible during a campaign for some people to take steps to undermine our efforts. This is common and the key to overcoming these problems is to be ready for them, understand why they happen and to prepare members to respond to them.

Some of the things that have happened during some Finsec campaigns;

One-to-one chats with staff that discourage people from joining up.
Provide staff with alternative written information about our claims and what is going on in negotiations.
Start fixing some workplace issues or improve working conditions
During negotiations offer pay increases to staff that are not in the union.

Some things that have been said to staff during some negotiations:

An appeal to your loyalty as a worker and ask you to choose between being in the union and supporting the bank.
‘Don’t get involved. You’ll get a bad reputation’

Why these things happen:

People can feel threatened by staff organising and know that the workplace environment will have to change if we get organised and build power.
Continuing to pay low wages, keeping targets as they are or doing nothing on staffing can’t happen if we build power and grow our membership.
Some people feel like they are losing control over you as workers.

Some responses to these tactics if they happen:

“I am joining with my co-workers in Finsec to make BNZ a Better Bank. Shouldn’t this be everyone’s goal?”
“We all have the right to join a union and work together here. The bank has said we can join if we want to. So no one should be afraid of improving things at the BNZ”.
“Finsec members are on the negotiating team, they have no reason to mislead me about what is being discussed. I trust what they are telling me”.