Staff fears about future of the National Bank coming to pass

3 August 2011

Staff fears about future of the National Bank coming to pass

Staff fears about the demise of the National Bank seem closer than ever, with major announcements to staff this week, and the bank refusing to rule out job losses.

Today ANZ retail staff were informed that their jobs are to be restructured, in order that their jobs and National Bank jobs are more closely aligned. This is the clearest sign so far that the bank was planning to go to one brand. Bank workers’ union secretary Andrew Casidy said that the changes outlined to staff are significant. “ANZ staff are facing major job changes or possible redundancies, to ensure that the ANZ and National Bank structures are similar and easy to merge.”

Casidy said staff were even more concerned following the bank’s refusal to commit to a series of principles around the change as part of a review of the staff collective agreement.

“Finsec members asked the bank to commit to no job cuts, to not slash staffing levels, and to have decent consultation with staff and customers. The bank has said no to all these things. This should leave all bank staff and customers with serious concerns about what ANZ National’s plan is, and what it means for our economy and community.”

Andrew Casidy said that the bank had tried many times to minimise the changes as a simple re-branding exercise. “We are very concerned that the move will have much more of an impact than just different signs and letterhead. ANZ National are an extremely profitable company, and they will have a hard time convincing New Zealanders that there is any case to cut jobs or service to customers.”

Union members at the bank are meeting over the next few weeks to discuss the bank’s lack of assurances on the changes, and to gauge staff’s major concerns about the changes.

ENDS

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