Award Restructuring in the Australian Banking Industry

Abstract

Under the auspices of the 'second tier' of the 1987 wages system, the Australian Bank Employees Union (ABEU) and the major private banks agreed to abandon assump tions which had, for seventy years, underpinned industry awards. By the 1980s the Bank Officials (1963) Award was unable to address changing skill requirements or resolve the dilemma of career blockage. To the average customer the face of banking changed dramatically during the 1980s, but less obvious were changes to the nature of work, skills and career prospects for the average bank employee. By guaranteeing yearly wage increments and promotion based on seniority, the traditional award promised security and career-oriented employment for male employees. By the mid-1980s the majority of bank employees were women, part-timers were increasing, promotion opportunities were declining and a case could be advanced that wages failed to reflect the new 'selling skills' demanded of many employees. Wage rates linked to jobs, the content of which had altered considerably in the previous twenty years, added to the unreality of the award. Accordingly, award restructuring aimed at addressing these changes through the introduction of job evaluation and performance-based promotion was undertaken. Based upon the Hay methodology, the new system, at least in theory, would offer promotion and salary increments only on the basis of merit.