Fed: Fed: Industrial umpire slams CommBank

AAP General News (Australia)
04-09-2010
Fed: Fed: Industrial umpire slams CommBank

EDS: Adds that Fair Work Australia has ordered the Commonwealth Bank to negotiate with the union



By Stephen Johnson

CANBERRA, April 9 AAP - The industrial umpire has slammed the Commonwealth Bank for
giving employees a pay rise without consulting their union.

The bank has now been ordered to give the Finance Sector Union (FSU) details of its
budget for the next two years, and negotiate with its adversary.

In mid-2009, the FSU sought a 4 per cent annual pay rise for bank tellers and call
centre workers.

But the bank told the union it wasn't in a position to negotiate, before giving the
workers on a collective agreement a much smaller 1.5 per cent pay increase.

Fair Work Australia has criticised the bank for refusing to negotiate with workers
on a collective agreement as it held talks with more senior staff on individual contracts.

"Its conduct in having two different positions on wages: one for its employees in the
collective bargaining forum and one for its employees directly, is unfair conduct which
undermines collective bargaining," commissioner Greg Smith said in his judgement.

The bank had also failed to disclose relevant information to them, he found.

The tribunal has ordered the Commonwealth Bank to provide a negotiating position on
pay to the FSU within seven days.

The bank has also been ordered to give documentation to the union and Fair Work Australia
outlining its projected employee budget for 2010 and 2011.

FSU national secretary Leon Carter said the tribunal's decision would make the bank's
37,000 workers distrustful of its employer.

"This decision has revealed the ruse and, sadly, will only serve to heighten employee
scepticism about the bank's genuineness," he said in a statement.

In July 2009, the bank gave a 1.5 per cent base salary rise to employees earning less
than $100,000 a year, and another 2 per cent remuneration rise in January 2010 to staff
whose performance met expectations.

Both increases were awarded without the involvement of the union, which took the bank
to Fair Work Australia in early 2010.

The bank told the tribunal the global financial crisis was behind its reluctance to
initially agree to a pay offer unless certain hurdles were met.

But the industrial umpire said the bank needed to be clearer "in relation to the GFC".

AAP saj/it/

KEYWORD: WORKPLACE UPDATE

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