Freedom of association and union engagement

Our people can join and be represented by a union without suffering any form of discrimination or prejudice. We comply with all relevant freedom of association legislation in the regions in which we operate. We also comply with the ILO Conventions, 87 and 98, regarding freedom of association and protection of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention and relevant local regulatory requirements. The unions that represent our employees are important stakeholders to our business.

We have collective employment agreements in place with each of the key regional unions.

In Australia, our Enterprise Agreement with the Finance Sector Union (FSU), is in place for the period 2006-2009. The EA includes leave and other entitlements for employees who are also union representatives.

In New Zealand, the Bank of New Zealand's Collective Agreement with the union - Finsec, is in place for the period (1 November 2005 to 31 October 2007). A working party comprising Finsec and the BNZ's Employee Relations Team have agreed to meet before the expiry of the Collective Agreement to rewrite the Agreement into a modern format and to agree non-substantive changes to the Agreement prior to formal negotiations occurring.

In the UK, the union Unite has representational rights for all our employees, except executives and those working in nabCapital. In November 2006, consolidated salary negotiations were successfully concluded with Unite.

Our global union engagement agreement

We have in place a Global Union Engagement Agreement  signed by all our businesses, key regional finance sector unions - the FSU, Unite and Finsec, as well as the global union peak body - Uni. This Agreement contains the principles and framework for constructive global union relationships.

To support this agreement with the unions, we hold a global union conference every 12-18 months with the participating organisations all coming together in one place face-to-face. The aim of this conference is to create a greater understanding between the participants and to provide an opportunity to build on the existing relationships. This event involves representatives from each region (Australia, UK and NZ), and from both NAB and the unions.