|
Employees of the National have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a new enterprise agreement that provides annual remuneration increases of 4.5% for three years from 2003. In return, the Agreement removes "performance banding", a part of the annual salary review process, and reduces the number of salary bands from 54 to 9. This will provide the company with significant remuneration flexibility. The in-principle agreement provides for an additional increase in minimum rates of pay of up to 2.5% in the first year for employees paid at the lower end of the scale. Further, a one-off performance payment of $750 will be made in the first year as additional compensation for around 3,000 of those staff affected by the performance reward structure changes. Executive General Manager Financial Services Australia, Ian MacDonald, described the vote as a very positive signal. "Over 83% of votes cast were in favour of the Agreement. "We wanted a good wage outcome for employees and the ability to put in place a fair and simple system for rewarding staff for performance. "Other elements in the agreement also address issues that are important to the bank and to our people including workloads and training." The Agreement now goes to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission for certification.
|
