Post WWII
The aftermath of the Second World War, and in particular, the emerging economic power of women, presented new challenges for both unions. Manpower shortages during the war resulted in many women taking on jobs previously considered male-only preserves; at war's end, many women felt they should not have to surrender jobs which they had demonstrated they could perform as effectively as their male counterparts. The AISF and ABOA were confronted with the dilemma of accommodating the demand for employment by returning servicemen with the rising industrial voice of female employees. This dilemma was only partially resolved by the boom in insurance and banking after the war, which created a demand for staff that could only by partially supplied by the available male workforce. Moreover, many employers had re-classified as "female" many jobs previously labelled "male", and were happy to employ women in these roles - and pay them at significantly lower wages.
However, as early as 1927, the AISF Executive had supported a call for equality of wages, and in 1941, won an award establishing minimum female rates of pay. In 1942, a mass meeting of 600 female insurance employees called for the implementation of the equal pay principle7; and in 1948, the AISF and other unions actively campaigned on this issue. However, this push was defeated by the post-war wage pegging legislation; it would not be re-implemented until the 1970s.
The ABOA spent the immediate post-war period engaged in a bitter controversy with the Chifley Labor government over its plans to nationalise the banking industry, and was instrumental in the election of the Menzies Liberal government in 1949. In the 1950s the ABOA embarked on three major industrial campaigns: the push for a 5-day working week; the introduction of long service leave; and the equalisation of wages between private banks and the Commonwealth Bank. These campaigns resulted in a growing industrial identity among bank employees; industrial action was seriously considered for the first time in the ABOA's history; and wage increases were won in 1951, 1954, and 1959.8 The right to a 5-day working week was finally achieved in 1963.9
Read more about this topic: Finance Sector Union
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“My business is stanching blood and feeding fainting men; my post the open field between the bullet and the hospital. I sometimes discuss the application of a compress or a wisp of hay under a broken limb, but not the bearing and merits of a political movement. I make gruel—not speeches; I write letters home for wounded soldiers, not political addresses.”
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