The National Australia Bank (NAB) has posted a massive $1.8 billion Q1 profit but the bank has failed to reveal exploitative contracts and unpaid hours of work have delivered this significant result.
Finance Sector Union (FSU) national secretary Julia Angrisano said bank workers at NAB were placed under sustained pressure to regularly work additional unpaid hours or face the prospect of losing their jobs.
"This profit is built on the collective effort of staff who are working up to 70 hours a week, forced to do excessive unpaid work."
"They are also forced to take work home to complete at night or work on weekends to finish tasks which could never be completed in ordinary working hours," Ms Angrisano said.
"NAB is stealing time from its employees to maintain maximum profits for the corporation and its shareholders."
Ms Angrisano said an FSU survey of NAB staff entitled Working For Nothing released in December last year, painted a disturbing picture of the NAB's culture which left employees suffering high levels of stress with excessive hours affecting their physical and mental health.
"The levels of exploitation in the NAB is mind blowing and no worker in the financial services sector should be forced to work so many additional hours for no extra pay," Ms Angrisano said.
The FSU is preparing to reveal the full extent of working conditions inside the NAB when its case for compensation is heard in the Federal Court.
"The NAB has failed to respond to allegations of exploitation made by its staff because it knows that they are true."
"We will be demanding that safeguards and protections are put in place at the NAB to eliminate exploitation of workers through the upcoming round of enterprise bargaining."
