ANZ accused of ‘exploiting crisis’ with leave policy

ANZ staff have filed complaints of unfair treatment with their union as the big four bank has demanded they take leave during the COVID-19 shutdown.

The Finance Sector Union of Australia said it had received a “large number of complaints” from ANZ staff as the bank was encouraging staff to take leave, despite banks being classified as an essential service.

FSU national secretary, Julia Angrisano, said this was not the time for a company to be concerned with its bottom line.

“ANZ is exploiting this crisis to pad out its results with unused staff leave. Banking is an essential service which is being guaranteed by the Australian Government at the moment and we believe the ANZ Bank should be focussing on how to assist its consumers and business customers instead of cracking down on leave,” she said.

“There is no question about the ANZ’s financial position so this management blitz would appear to be yet another tactic to put profits before people.”

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ANZ’s decision to reduce staff leave to less than four weeks breached FSU/ANZ enterprise agreements, she said.

Alongside the other three major banks, ANZ had agreed to staff a hotline for customers to call to access bridging finance so they could pay their staff under the JobKeeper program.

Angrisano called for ANZ to “treat its staff fairly” and focus on customers, especially those small business customers.

“At a time when bank branches are operating as essential services because of the pandemic, we are calling on the ANZ to treat its staff fairly and step back from this bad policy.

“If ANZ pushes forward with its policy of putting large numbers of staff on leave it will mean less attention given to small business customers at a time when they need their bank the most.”