Matts Story

Matt is 20, lives in Auckland, and works in the contact centre at National Bank. He is a member of Finsec.

My Job I work in a contact centre as a direct service and sales rep for National Bank. I answer the phone when people ring up for account enquiries, phone banking and after hours enquiries. Ive been in the job about 18 months. I saw it in the paper and applied, and got the job. I had to do a computer skills test and all that. Before that I worked in a retail store for two years. I like solving peoples problems. It feels good when you get something out of the ordinary and youre challenged. But the routine enquiries get a bit boring. My Union A youth delegate approached me at work about six months after I started. It was basically the first time anyone had talked to me about unions. He asked me if I thought certain things were fair, and told me what the union could do to safeguard you against dodgy management. Its important that people know about that kind of thing, and are educated. If you know what management are capable of youre forewarned and equipped. At our work theres lots of health and safety issues, stress and hazards like partially adjustable workstations that cause OOS. Were working with keyboards and computers all the time. So thats something were concerned about. Ive signed up as a delegate and Im going to talk to the other young workers to find out what theyre concerned about with their situation at work, whether theyre juggling work with study and so on. I want to raise the union profile at work.