Monday, November 27, 2000
For immediate release
'It's a matter of giving ASB staff a choice'
The ASB bank and the TSB are alone amongst banks in failing to offer their staff a collective contract. The ASB advises
its staff that the bank thrives because it doesn't have one.
Finsec, the union for bank workers, believes there is room for contestable advice to ASB staff and has set up a website
called www.asbbankunion.org.nz.
This has upset the bank, which has accused Finsec of breaches of the Copyright and the Fair Trading Acts.
However, ASB human resources manager Barbara Chapman told the Sunday Star Times yesterday that the bank would prefer
staff to be on individual contracts - because 'it's something that feels right.'
She added 'We believe we offer state of the art conditions. But it's up to staff. If they want to have a collective
contract, then it is up to them."
Gordon Webley, project manager of Finsec's greenfields organising team agrees.
"It's a matter of giving ASB staff a choice for the first time in nine years," he said. "Our website informs ASB staff
about how their conditions compare with those of other bank workers and gives them information about how to contact the
union."
Finsec has begun the process of registering a new domain name for the website.
Ends