A workers’ union has called on banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions to let staff work from home, as sharply rising fuel costs eat into employees’ wages.
Workers First Union made the request on Thursday, urging financial sector employers to suspend attendance requirements, offer remote work arrangements where possible, and subsidise transport for staff required to be on site.
The push comes as fuel prices surge across New Zealand. According to fuel price monitoring app Gaspy, 91-octane petrol has risen more than $1/L over the past 28 days, reaching an average of $3.39/L. Diesel climbed $1.61 to $3.29/L, while 95-octane fuel increased $1.07 to $3.59/L. Analysts say the rises have been driven in part by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which has pushed up global oil prices.
Workers First national organiser for finance Callum Francis highlighted in an interview with RNZ that employees were spending a growing share of their wages just getting to and from work.
“Finance workers offer care and consideration to customers every single day,” Francis told RNZ. “We’re asking their employers to offer them the same. This is no longer a nice-to-have – it is becoming a necessity.”
Francis drew comparisons to the COVID-19 pandemic, when many organisations rapidly adapted to remote work arrangements.
“Businesses showed during COVID that they could act quickly and pragmatically when workers needed them to. We’re asking for that same approach now,” he said.
He added that large financial institutions had both the means and the responsibility to respond.
“Billion-dollar institutions like banks and insurance providers can and should provide relief and convenience to their workers whenever it’s possible – especially during a crisis,” Francis said.
Workers First’s call follows a similar push by the Public Service Association (PSA), which urged the government to encourage public servants to work from home to ease the burden of rising fuel costs. PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the government needed to revisit its 2024 guidance, which stated that flexible arrangements were not an entitlement and had to be agreed upon by employers.
“These fuel prices are hitting working people hard. We want the government to look at every measure to relieve the burden on workers,” Fitzsimons said.
The PSA also raised concerns about 23,000 home support workers, whose government-funded mileage subsidy had not been updated since 2022, RNZ reported. The subsidy pays $2.35 for travel between clients – equivalent to 63.5c/km – compared with Inland Revenue’s current mileage rate of $1.17/km for petrol vehicles.
In response to the broader fuel crisis, finance minister Nicola Willis announced that from April 7, around 143,000 low- to middle-income working families with children would receive an extra $50 a week through a temporary boost to the in-work tax credit. The increase would last one year or until 91-octane petrol dropped below $3/L for four consecutive weeks.
Meanwhile, employment lawyers noted that workers whose employers had not been offered remote work arrangements could still formally request it, though employers were not necessarily obliged to approve such requests.
