KEY POINTS:
Union members at ANZ and National banks walked off the job to hold stop work meetings from 8.30 to 10.30 this morning.
Finsec, the bank worker's union, announced the stop work two weeks ago after reaching an impasse during collective agreement negotiations.
Union campaigns director Andrew Campbell said the bank had been "pretty blunt" in stating its intention to offer no more than a 4 per cent pay increase, "which is a wage freeze in the current climate."
He said the key issue was the bank's failure to address concerns over sales targets.
About 2500 of the banks' 9000 employees are union members, however not all were expected to attend one of the 50 meetings being held around the country.
Mr Campbell said there had been "significant" pressure from the bank not to take strike action.
"Also our members are very committed to their job so walking off the job is a major issue for them."
ANZ National Bank spokeswoman Virginia Stacey-Clitherow said it was bank policy not to comment on contract negotiations. She said it was not yet clear what impact the strike action would have.
Mr Campbell said it was likely all services would be impacted "to a degree".
"We know there are major understaffing issues in the banks already so any staff not being at work will put pressure on those services.
"There will be some regional branches that close, but we're not anticipating significant branch closures. To be fair, that's actually not the point. The point is to send a strong message to the bank that we expect them to be a good corporate citizen."
He said workers would use the meetings to discuss whether further strike action would be required and could opt to stay off work for the remainder of the day.
- NZPA
