Pre-WWII
Despite the many obstacles by which both the AISF and the ABOA were confronted, the very fact of their formation prompted the banks to raise employee salaries in 1919 and 1920.³ In 1921, insurance employers agreed to a log of claims submitted by the AISF, thus establishing the first ever national standard for employment conditions in that industry.4 These improvements, and the formation of the staff organisations themselves, were fiercely resented by banking and insurance employers, who accordingly adopted a number of aggressive tactics ranging from preferential treatment of non-unionists to outright intimidation in order to blunt the AISF's and the ABOA's effectiveness.
The Great Depression of 1930-39 was a period of extreme difficulty for both unions. The drastically declining national economy created an atmosphere of fear and apprehension, in which the thought of industrial action was abhorrent and the terror of unemployment conspired to produce a subservient workforce. In this environment, finance employers went on the offensive, cutting jobs and, in one instance, serving up a pay-cut of 20% to insurance employees.5 Unsurprisingly, the unions' membership went into steep decline, plunging from 1281 in 1931 to 858 in 1937.6
Despite these straitened circumstances, the AISF managed to win one important victory in 1931. In that year, the Arbitration Court allowed insurance employers to cut wages by a further 10%; on appeal to the High Court, the AISF successfully argued that this additional cut took wages below the ambit minimum that generated a 1927 pay claim and subsequent award. This ruling ensured that pay cuts could not continue to occur indefinitely.
Generally, speaking, however, the 1930s were a period when the extreme economic circumstances rendered both unions largely ineffective.
Read more about this topic: Finance Sector Union