Employees transferring from Bank of Queensland Owner Managed branches (OMB) to BOQ Corporate workplaces, where BOQ purchases back the OMB, can leave existing workplace agreements behind and move to a collective union negotiated agreement, thanks to a Fair Work Australia ruling last week.

"We've taken another step on the road to a Workchoices-free finance sector, and that's good news for finance workers, particularly those who have been disadvantaged by inferior employment conditions," said FSU National Secretary Leon Carter.

Fair Work Australia granted an application by the Finance Sector Union (FSU), with support from the Bank of Queensland, for orders under the Fair Work Act Transfer of Business provisions that the Greenfields Agreement would not transfer with the transferring employees, and instead the BOQ Enterprise Agreement 2010 would apply to those employees.

The Greenfields Agreements were made by employers under the WorkChoices legislation, which allowed an employer to make an agreement with itself, involve no-one else in the negotiations, and have that agreement apply to employees. The net result of this was that the conditions under the Greenfields Agreements were inferior to those applying in BOQ Branches owned by BOQ.

"With a number of OMB's reverting to BOQ Corporate ownership in the last year, this ruling puts another nail in the Workchoices coffin. We say good riddance," said Leon Carter.

FSU