Workers from the country's biggest bank have gone on strike in a dispute over pay and a proposal for flexible work hours.
ANZ wants its branches to stay open longer but a workers union says staff need more job security.
Workers left their bank branches and offices behind to take to the street as union members went on strike today.
There were protests in seven cities over a pay dispute and the bank's plan to put new employees on flexible work hours.
"Week to week we don't know what hours we'll be doing, we're totally opposed to that, we think it's disgusting," says ANZ worker Hami Jackon.
The bank says new staff need to work flexible hours - such as weekends - to meet customer demand.
The FIRST Union says it will be hard for workers and their families to plan their lives.
"We already have these arrangements at some branches and our proposal is simply to extend it to other branches," ANZ said in a statement. "The union are making an issue out of it because they want a higher pay increase than the very competitive 3 percent and 2.75 percent that we have offered staff."
Protesters says that offer is too low - given the bank's massive profits - and they are annoyed with the bank's chief executive David Hisco earning $4.1 million a year.
ANZ said today's strike caused little disruption to its business.
The union says the dispute will continue until the bank's shows a more flexible approach.
3 News
source: newshub archive
