NZ union blasts ANZ over pay comments

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NZ union blasts ANZ over pay comments

By Chris Zappone

A New Zealand union has lambasted the ANZ Bank executive who compared bankers' high earnings to those in sports and entertainment, saying society ought to fight income disparity between bosses and workers.

“Most Australians and New Zealanders know that it is the disparity of income between these corporate leaders and their workers that is the problem,” said FIRST Union finance secretary Andrew Casidy.

“Banks are making profits in the billions,” said Mr Casidy. “It's time the rock stars of banking checked out the real world their staff and customers have to live in.”

Mr Casidy's comments come a day after ANZ Bank Australia chief Phil Chronican yesterday said Australians were happy to see athletes and entertainers earn large sums of money but high pay for executives was still “seen as excessive.”

FIRST Union's Mr Casidy said the New Zealand native Mr Chronican, who earned $2.2 million ($NZ2.77 million) compared with $NZ55,000 per year for an ANZ New Zealand employee, had missed the bigger issue surrounding executive pay.

“Mr Chronican seems to have forgotten that many of today's social concerns are a direct result of to the burgeoning income gap between the rich and the poor,” said Mr Casidy.

Executive pay has emerged as a thorny issue for bankers after the financial crisis forced governments to pour billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to bail out the sector. The crisis has also plunged many North Atlantic economies into recession and condemned millions of people in the US, UK, Spain, Greece, Italy and Ireland to diminished earnings and high joblessness for years to come.

FIRST represents 27,000 workers in New Zealand in finance and retail areas, among others.

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Mr Chronican made his comments in a wide-ranging speech that included the observation that Australia's mining boom had passed many Australians by. He also reminded the audience at the American Chamber of Commerce lunch in Melbourne that Australian banks did not receive government bailouts during the financial crisis.

The ANZ today did not reply directly to Mr Casidy's comments, stressing instead Mr Chronican's comment yesterday that “for the vast majority of people, any level of executive pay look high, even stratospheric.”

Mr Chronican was not attempting to justify executive remuneration but rather seek a more reasoned debate on why remuneration is high rather than the more emotive debate which exists on how much individuals are paid, an ANZ spokesperson said.

The bank executive also called for greater transparency on remuneration and disclosure across all areas of the economy - not just ASX listed companies, ANZ said.

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