Trade Union entry United Bank Officers Association, Commonwealth Branch (1921 - 1924)

Summary

Banking unions began emerging after the First World War, in 1918. E.C. Peverill from the National Bank of Australasia in Victoria was instrumental in establishing the Bank Officials' Association [BOA] in 1919. The union also covered Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. In Sydney the United Bank Officers' Association [UBOA] was formed in the same year. By 1921 the separate state unions known as the Bank Officials' Association of South Australia and the Bank Officials' Association of Western Australia had also been formed. In 1919 K.H. Laidlaw formed the United Bank Officers' Association of Queensland. While the Bank Officials' Association in Victoria was registered federally the other unions were registered in various state courts.

In 1921 the Bank Officials' Association in Victoria proposed an amalgamation of all banking unions, to be organised with a federal council and state branches. However, the UBOA of New South Wales and Queensland both rejected this proposal, partly due to Sydney Smith's (the UBOA of New South Wales Secretary) fears that amalgamation would mean the loss of state autonomy. Smith planned to register federally a union of bank officers from the fast growing Commonwealth Bank and to expedite this he formed the Commonwealth Bank Branch of the UBOA of NSW. This was registered in 1921 as the United Bank Officers' Association, Commonwealth Branch. As a result the membership of the UBOA was significantly increased. In 1924 this branch refined names slightly to become the United Bank Officers' Association, Commonwealth Bank Branch. In 1930 the Commonwealth Bank Branch of the UBOA became a separate association altogether and was renamed the Commonwealth Bank Officers' Association.

In March 1994 the Commonwealth Bank Officers' Association was reunited with its old parent union, the United Bank Officers' Association now in the form of the much stronger Finance Sector Union.

Related entries

Timeline

 1921 - 1924 United Bank Officers Association, Commonwealth Branch
       1924 - 1930 United Bank Officers Association, Commonwealth Bank Branch
             1930 - 1994 Commonwealth Bank Officers Association
                   1994 - Finance Sector Union of Australia (ii)

Published resources

Books

• Hill, John, From Subservience to Strike: Industrial Relations in the Banking Industry, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, 1982, 296 pp. Details
• Manning, Geoffrey, Worth Fighting For: Work and Industrial Relations in the Banking Industry in South Australia, Australian Bank Employees Union, South Australia and Northern Territory Branch, Adelaide, 1989, 227 pp. Details

Online Resources

• 'Chart 12: Finance and Commerce', in Parties to the Award, 2002, http://www.atua.org.au/ptta/033.html. Details