ANZ staff in a Wellington-based call centre that handles calls from customers in Australia claim their shift patterns can see them work up to 10 days in a row.
The union says staff have described the rotational shift as brutal, and said it disrupts sleep patterns, causes illness and damages family relationships.
Customer services consultant Arlyn Rupita said the shifts leave her feeling like she's not doing a good job as a mother to her two young children.
"It's too long for me to go without spending decent time with them...I feel like I'm having withdrawal symptoms from not seeing my own kids enough."
Staff member Tina Eshaya said the shift structure overpowers family and other commitments.
"It's got to the point where my daughter hates me going to work."
Finsec is arguing for a fairer, more family friendly approach to the organisation of shifts as part of its ongoing negotiations with the bank.
"Given the size and profitability of the operation, ANZ are more than capable of accommodating fairer shift patterns," said campaigns director Andrew Campbell.
"It is shocking that ANZ is using such draconian shift patterns in this call centre. These staff are treated like second class citizens as they have much worse arrangements than the bank's other New Zealand call centre workers," he said.
ANZ spokesperson Astrid Smeele said this afternoon that the bank is happy to set up a working party to look at staff's consecutive shifts, and has offered this to Finsec. She said contact centre staff generally work a 37.5 hour week over five days.
"A very small number of staff may work up to 10 consecutive days a couple of times a year when certain shift rosters change," Smeele said.
"However at other times these staff will have three or four days off consecutively. Staff can also swap their shifts to avoid the 10-day stretch."
