9 November 2006
Enforcers sighted around the country
Finsec members at Westpac are joining the Enforcers campaign to enforce the legal rights to fair working conditions free from stress and danger that we have previously won collectively. Members have been raising issues collectively at worksites and branches around the country, and also taking their concerns directly to bank decision makers. Here are of some of the issues Finsec members are currently raising:
- Lending Support team challenge understaffing
- Ngaruawahia goes home on time
- Part Time Staff at Phone Assist seek backdated pay
- Union Council challenges bank’s increase to targets
Lending Support team challenge understaffing
Finsec members from the lending support and loan assessment areas at the Canterbury Centre have had a gutsful of understaffing on their site.
The issue first arose when Finsec’s Christchurch Office took lots of calls saying that the bank’s new system of allocating timings to everyone’s core tasks had significantly increased many people’s workload and stress. A meeting on the worksite quickly confirmed that this was a widespread problem. The bank had been using the new timings to calculate the number of staff needed in each department and was constantly moving staff from department to department – sometimes to areas they had not worked in before.
The situation has become so stressful that some staff have ended up in tears at the end of the day. To enforce their right to safe staffing levels Finsec members all wore barcode stickers last week saying “Person”, highlighting that they are people, not numbers. They have also collectively written to the bank demanding extra staffing to resolve this issue.
Ngaruawahia goes home on time
Finsec members at Ngaruawahia branch are enforcing their right to go home on time. For a long time tellers in the branch have been expected to work unpaid overtime at the end of most days. As part of the Enforcers campaign, the members came up with a solution. Now, one of the tellers closes down her till before closing time, leaving time for all of the other tasks that need to be completed before 5pm. The result has been that members have been able to get through all the necessary work, be finished work and home to families on time most days.
Part Time Staff at Phone Assist seek backdated pay
When full-time staff won a decrease in the number of hours they worked from 40 hours per week to 38.5 they effectively received a pay increase because they were earning the same amount of money for working less hours. Part-time workers at Phone Assist have not been given this pay increase though. Finsec member, Phil Berghan-Whyman, who works two days a week first raised this issue with Finsec:
“I went to the bank and said ‘You realise that this is giving everybody who works full time a pay rise. As a part timer am I also going to receive a pay rise?’ They said ‘no’.”
“They entirely refused to deal with it.”
So, as part of the Enforcers campaign, Phone Assist staff launched a petition and wrote an open letter which Phone Assist Union Councillor, Sara Mcintyre, is presenting to the bank this week.
Finsec also launched a calculator so that Phone Assist staff could demonstrate just how much money they were missing out on because of the bank’s inaction.
Sara says that the campaign has generated lots of support: “We are just getting into the swing of things – Wellington members have really got on board and are supporting our part timers. Basically we are just taking the first steps to have something underway to get this fixed.”
“With the wins that we have won for full timers at Phone Assist, for every half hour less work we need to do per week we get more pay per hour. The part timers should be getting a pay rise as well and nothing is being done. The whole point is to include everybody.”
Phil agrees:
“It is not much in terms of individual weeks but it is a fair amount of money over a longer time. My biggest gripe is that it tends to entirely undervalue the part time staff. The bank is saying ‘Because you’re not full time we’re not going to give you the same respect and the same remuneration, which we used to do’.”
Union Council challenges bank’s increase to targets
Finsec members responded in huge numbers to our survey asking how you feel about the new appraisal system. Most responses were supportive of the move to take sales targets out of the 1 – 5 appraisal, but extremely angry about significantly increased targets in a range of other areas.
During October the Union Council met with senior managers from the bank, including Henry Ford and Peter Thomas, and raised issues of importance to Finsec members. The main issues the Union Council raised were:
- The unrealistic increases to targets recently. Specifically the council said the bank needs to reduce CNA and PACT targets.
- The continuing stress created by low staffing levels across many areas.
- The need for increased investment in staff and products, instead of just trying to ‘squeeze more’ out of existing staff.
- The bank needs to consult better when it wants to make changes to our roles.
These are just some of the enforcement issues collectively raised by Finsec members recently. The only way to make progress on our issues is to have a strong growing membership and to use our voice to raise the issues and put forward positive solutions.
