Bankwest staff are set to vote on another revised pay offer from the company’s management following a protracted round of enterprise negotiations over the last 12 months.
Banking Day understands that the Finance Sector Union will recommend the latest offer, which would deliver pay rises totalling 10.1 per cent over three years from 1 July last year, if staff back the deal.
Bank staff are expected to begin voting on the pay offer from 6 June.
The resurgence of inflation this year complicated the enterprise talks between Bankwest and the union, with the bank having to revise its offer twice since bargaining began last July.
Under the latest offer, the bank has agreed to furnish a back-dated pay increase of 3.25 per cent for the 12 months to the end of June; a 3.6 per cent for the year to the end of June 2023 and a further 3.25 per cent in 2024.
The 2023 pay increase is almost in line with the underlying measure of inflation, which spiked to 3.7 per cent in the March quarter.
The bank’s fresh offer comes after the FSU threatened industrial action in the middle of April if the 2023 pay rise was not improved to 3.6 per cent.
Most economists and the Reserve Bank are expecting inflation to begin tapering towards the end of the December quarter this year.
In a notification to Bankwest members, the FSU described the latest offer from the bank as a “breakthrough”.
“Because of our collective and sustained campaigning efforts, we have together achieved a breakthrough in pay negotiations,” the union told staff in an update posted on its website.
“We will keep you updated on the progress of finalising the drafting of our new Enterprise Agreement, the timing of the ballot on the agreement and when pay increases will be applicable following a majority of employees voting in favour of the proposal.”
The Bankwest deal could have implications for Westpac and NAB, which are each about to enter enterprise talks with the union in the coming months.
Industrial negotiations across the industry could become unusually protracted in the next twelve months as the union and banks delay settling pay deals until the medium term trajectory of consumer inflation is better understood.
If headline and underlying measures of inflation show no signs of abatement towards the end of the year, the FSU could be expected to lodge annual pay claims of up to 5 per cent.