Bank officers to seek bigger rise

Press, 20 January 1987, Page 6

Bank officers to seek bigger rise

PA Wellington The Bank Officers’ Union will push for pay rises higher than the going rate for the wage round in light of the new inflation figures and industry factors. The union will start negotiations on February 19 on behalf of 18,000 trading bank workers. The pay claim is for 12 per cent plus an industry allowance of $2O a week. It is one of the biggest awards left to be negotiated in the present pay round and the union’s president, Angela Foulkes, said yesterday that the union expected better than the going rate. "Obviously the consumer price index figures, when they came out, put

us in a position where we do have to look at the award and any settlement that we get,” Ms Foulkes said. “We have anticipated ... that we would be getting a better settlement purely on the state of the industry. “We have still got people leaving the industry in large numbers; a high turnover.” Pay settlements so far in the round have ranged between 5 per cent and 7.5 per cent, with most gaining pay rises of between 6 and 7 per cent Friday’s news that inflation was now running at 18.2 per cent for the year may also have an impact on pay neogitations which are already in dispute.