CBA responds to part-time workers superannuation issues

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) promised to rectify superannuation concerns after the Finance Sector Union of Australia (FSU) claimed that more than 7,000 part-time staff did not receive their full superannuation entitlements. A CBA spokesperson said that the bank is committed to comply with obligations to employees.

"We have advised the Financial Services Union (FSU) that we take their concerns very seriously and that we are committed to complying with obligations. We are currently investigating their concerns and we have made it clear to them that, if following investigations we identify any issues, we will rectify them," a CBA spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson added that the bank understood the importance of superannuation in enhancing the financial wellbeing of the employees.

The union claimed that lowest-paid workers, full-time and former workers were owed with unpaid benefits. "We know there are 7,000 part-timers in CBA at the moment but there has been a regular turnover of part-time bank staff over the years and the full extent of the problem could run into millions of dollars in back payments plus interest," FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said.

Angrisano said that CBA has been ripping off some of its lowest-paid staff as early as 2009. She said that the union was committed to make sure the bank pays up. The dispute will be taken to the Fair Work Commission if CBA could not resolve the issue. According to Angrisano, CBA was refusing to acknowledge its responsibility in paying 9.5 percent extra into superannuation accounts for members to cover their full weekly wage. "It is bad enough that Australia's most profitable bank pays some of the lowest wages in the banking sector, now we are finding that part-time staff aren't getting their full superannuation entitlement," she said.

Angrisano said that CBA employees were telling the union that the employees often worked longer hours to cover staff shortages. "It is that extra time worked where the Commonwealth has been exploiting them by not paying the additional superannuation," she said.

The union said that CBA employed a large number of part-time workers that were paid to receive superannuation that covered a set amount of hours they were contracted. They were not paid based on their actual work hours. However, the full extent of unpaid superannuation was still unclear. The union said that majority of the part-time staff were women. It added that based on CBA enterprise agreement, employees were still considered as part-time workers even after working up to 38 hours a week.