Right to work from home "front and centre" for union

The Finance Sector Union says it will lobby for bank employees to have the right to request remote-work arrangements when it begins re-negotiating collective agreements with Westpac, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank in the coming months.

Banks started encouraging employees to return to the office on some days of the week earlier this month, according to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald. FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano told the publication that the union would try to add work-from-home (WFH) provisions to enterprise bargaining agreements, which expire at several banks this year.

Angrisano has written to more than 50 financial sector employers saying that finance workers should not be forced to return to the office if they have real concerns about their safety or that of their families, the Herald reported. Angrisano cited concerns about COVID-19, long commutes and carers’ responsibilities.

All of the major banks have adopted some type of hybrid work model for office workers. However, an FSU survey of 70 members found that about two-thirds of respondents worried about catching COVID-19 when they returned to the office. While Angrisano admitted that WFH plans needed to work for both employers and employees, she said some banks had ordered their staff to return to the office in an “arbitrary” way.

The union expects to begin enterprise bargaining negotiations with Westpac and NAB in May, while CBA’s agreement is set to expire in June, the Herald reported.

“For us as a sector, this is a big issue, and we will make it front and centre of our key negotiating claim across the two that are coming up first, which is Westpac and NAB,” Angrisano told the publication. “Requesting a work-from-home arrangement is a right that we want to have secured in the collective agreement. So when considering an employee’s request for a work-from-home arrangement, we would expect that the employer would consult with the employee, genuinely try to reach agreement on what that work-from-home arrangement would look like, and that there would be flexibility that would accommodate the employee’s circumstance and the needs of the business.”

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In recent years, ANZ has rolled over an enterprise agreement that expired in 2017, but Angrisano told the Herald that the union still planned to engage with the bank on its WFH proposal.

Banks say they are already being flexible by allowing staff to work from home some of the time, provided it’s appropriate for the job. Susan Ferrier, NAB group executive for people and culture, told the Herald that some bankers needed to be onsite in offices or branches, and that the bank supported employees in returning to the office.

“We acknowledge that some colleagues may feel concerned about returning to the office and catching public transit to work,” she said. “There will be a period of adjustment, and we are supporting our people leaders and colleagues every step of the way.”

A CBA spokesman told the Herald that the bank already gave employees flexibility through a hybrid work plan introduced a year ago, “which anticipates and encourages our people to work both in the office and also remotely.”

“This is a matter for individual employees and their managers to think about the needs of their customers, their teams and their personal circumstances when deciding which location works best for all concerned,” he said.

The FSU is also pushing for finance sector employers to give staff the option of “fully remote work where possible,” and for workers to have the “right to disconnect” – the right not to answer work demands like emails or calls outside of standard working hours.