Lowest-Paid Commonwealth Bank Staff Could Get 13% Over Three Years in a Deal That Would Add an AI Committee

The lowest-paid workers at Commonwealth Bank of Australia could get a 13 per cent payrise over the next three years under an in-principle deal announced on 13 October 2026. The figure would apply to Tier 1 unpackaged employees, at 13% over three years, not to every worker, and the deal is an in-principle agreement that still has to be drafted and voted on. Every figure on the new deal comes from the Finance Sector Union, which published the tiers and conditions on its website. The package would also include the introduction of an Artificial Intelligence Committee, with no further detail released. For Metaintro readers who work in Australian banking, or who are weighing a job at a big bank, this guide sets out who gets what, how it compares with the offer FSU members rejected in September, and what has to happen before any money lands.

What Is in CBA's In-Principle Pay Deal?

FSU members secured an improved pay offer at CBA and Bankwest after months of negotiations and campaigning. The rise would go to the lowest paid workers, and the union calls the Tier 1 unpackaged offer one of the highest pay rises in the industry, at 13% over three years.

The offer includes up to an additional 6.5% guaranteed pay rise for Tier 3 and 4 employees compared with the bank's original offer.

The timing matters for your pay packet. The proposed agreement would provide guaranteed pay increases for everyone in Year 1 of the Agreement (backdated to 1 July 2026), payable on a Yes vote without waiting for the Fair Work Commission to approve the agreement.

Who Gets the 13% and What Do Other Tiers Get?

Your tier and your pay arrangement decide what you get. Staff are split into packaged and unpackaged groups, and the 13% headline would apply to Tier 1 unpackaged employees only.

Here is how to tell which group you are in, based on the union's guide to the proposed agreement:

• Unpackaged. At CBA you would typically receive the PRP bonus and payment for overtime. This group includes Bankwest Level 1 and 2 staff.
• Packaged. You would typically receive an STVR and not receive payment for overtime. This group includes Bankwest Level 3 and 4 staff.

Bankwest staff are covered too. The deal would be a three-year Enterprise Agreement covering Commonwealth Bank and Bankwest employees, including coverage of Bankwest Level 3 and 4 employees.

The deal would also shift the balance of pay. The offer would bring greater fixed-pay increases and less reliance on discretionary pay, which matters if a large part of your income has come from bonuses. Performance Related Pay would be simplified with increased potential outcomes for GC level staff.

This outcome is the result of FSU members standing strong and demanding a better deal, in the words of the Finance Sector Union's announcement.

How Does This Compare With the Offer FSU Members Rejected?

By 2 September, FSU members had rejected the bank's earlier pay offer, and on the union's figures it meant 71% of CBA employees would receive a wage increase this year that falls well short of CPI. Some 47% of CBA employees would receive either no pay increase over three years, or at most a 2.5% increase over three years under that offer. The union also objected that the offer did not address its other claims around job security, improved workplace flexibility, and safe staffing and workloads.

Packaged staff were offered a different deal. CBA offered around 70% of its employees on packaged pay arrangements an increase of 8.75% over three years, according to an August Australian Financial Review report as cited by HRD Australia.

The union's original claim was broader than the in-principle deal. It asked for annual wage increases of 5% (or CPI if greater) for all employees, regardless of employment arrangement or salary tier/band. The in-principle deal sets different rises by tier, with 13% over three years for Tier 1 unpackaged employees, so the tier you sit in still shapes your outcome.

The lowest-paid CBA staff earn $2.82 an hour above the minimum wage of $26.44 on the FSU's figures, a gap the union used to argue for a better offer.

What Else Is in the Proposed Agreement?

Pay is only part of the package. The proposed agreement would also make these changes:

• Parental leave. Paid parental leave would rise to 20 weeks (currently 18 weeks).
• Reproductive health leave. The existing 5 days' paid family planning leave would be expanded to include reproductive health.
• One salary threshold. The $119,400 & $170,000 entitlement carve outs would be removed and simplified to one at $145,000, indexed over the life of the agreement.
• On-call pay. An on-call allowance of $500 would be written into the agreement and indexed by 3.5% in years two and three.
• Relocation. The domestic relocation allowance would be doubled to $3000.
• Acting up. CBA staff covering Branch Manager and Bankwest staff covering Team Leader duties would get higher duties after one day (rather than four consecutive).
• KPIs. The agreement would have improved language for setting KPIs/performance objectives, meaning greater consultation.

Other changes touch daily work. The proposed agreement would make it clear that learning should be done in paid time, add a First Nations employment clause, and bring rest and tea breaks to Bankwest staff.

What Do We Know About the New AI Committee?

Very little has been published. The proposed agreement includes the introduction of an Artificial Intelligence Committee, and the union repeats it on its campaign page. Neither page names who sits on it, what it can decide, or how often it meets.

Another new clause is listed next to it. The proposed agreement also includes a new Sustainable Workforce provision dealing with workforce change, support and reskilling. Its full wording has not been released.

Read what is missing as carefully as what is there. The union went into talks asking for no forced redundancies as a result of the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) or other similar technologies, and for no further offshoring of roles performed by employees covered by the agreement. Those demands do not appear in the published summary of the in-principle deal, so the published summary contains no AI job guarantee.

AI is on the bank's own agenda. In FY26 CBA launched a national AI, cybersecurity and digital capability initiative with OpenAI for 1 million small businesses. The bank also unveiled a $90 million Future Workforce Program earlier this year, aimed at an AI-ready workforce. Late last year the bank reversed a decision to slash 45 customer service jobs amid increasing use of AI, the cut behind AI Chatbots Cut Bank Jobs.

What Does the AGM Have to Do With the Deal?

CBA's annual general meeting is on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, at 9.30am (Sydney time) at the Hyatt Regency in Sydney. The union had planned action there, and on its account the prospect of FSU action at this week's AGM and the risk of significant embarrassment for the bank put mounting pressure on CBA to respond.

The protest is off, but questions will still be asked. The planned action at the AGM has now been cancelled, and a small delegation will still attend to ask the Board and CEO about important issues at work, including artificial intelligence, offshoring and branch closures.

The pressure built for weeks. A petition signed by more than 3,000 CBA workers was delivered to the chief executive in Sydney on Monday, 14 September, with more than 1,700 employees sharing stories of financial hardship.

We have put forward a comprehensive proposal covering pay and a range of other employment conditions, which continues to be negotiated, a CBA spokesperson said in September, according to the HRD Australia report.

What Happens Before Anyone Is Paid?

There are three steps left. Union representatives will meet later this week to discuss the details, the parties will finalise the drafting, and then the agreement would go to a vote of all CBA employees, which the union expects in the coming weeks.

The vote is a simple majority of those who vote. Under Fair Work rules, an agreement is made when a majority of employees who cast a valid vote, vote to approve the enterprise agreement. Staff who do not vote are not counted in that majority.

The first-year rise would not wait for Commission approval. The Year 1 increase would be backdated to 1 July 2026 and payable on a Yes vote, with no need to wait for approval by the Commission.

Information sessions are coming. FSU members will be invited to information sessions to answer questions about the new Agreement and the ballot process.

How Does the Deal Sit Against the Bank's Profit and Job Cuts?

Cash net profit after tax increased 7% to $11bn in the year to June 2026, and staff expenses rose to $8,258 million, driven by wage inflation along with investment in technology, retail lenders and operations resources, partly offset by productivity initiatives and favourable FX.

Average staff numbers rose over the year. The average number of full-time equivalent staff rose from 49,996 to 51,756, primarily driven by the bank's continued investment in its technology and engineering capabilities, insourcing to reduce reliance on external vendors, investment in product offerings, and fraud, scams and financial crime mitigation capabilities.

Job cuts have continued this year. More than 172 roles in the Commonwealth Bank's New South Wales tech team are being axed and another 232 staff across a range of areas will be redeployed, which takes the cut this year to more than 1,000 on the union's count. More than 500 people whose roles were impacted by change in 2026 have transitioned into other roles within CBA, a CBA spokesperson said.

Of CBA staff the union surveyed, 75% say they fear losing their job and half are considering leaving the company.

Executive pay was part of the argument too. The chief executive's total annual pay packet rose to more than $9 million, while the minimum CBA rate is $29.26 an hour, figures the union published on the day of CBA's full-year profit announcement. That pay packet is 150 times the annual pay (before-tax) of the lowest paid CBA worker, and the minimum CBA rate sits only slightly above what a Bunnings employee can earn at $28.64 an hour, on the union's comparison.

What This Means for Bank Workers, and What Should You Do Next?

The deal is not yet money in your account. Until the vote passes, the in-principle agreement is not yet final, and the 13% figure applies only to Tier 1 unpackaged staff. If you are on a higher tier, your gain would depend on where you sit, with up to an additional 6.5% guaranteed, compared with CBA's original offer, for Tiers 3 and 4.

Here is what to do now:

• Find your pay arrangement. Check whether you typically get the PRP bonus and overtime pay (unpackaged) or typically an STVR without overtime pay (packaged), using the union's guide to the proposed agreement.
• Track the backdate. If the vote passes, your first-year rise runs back to 1 July 2026, so keep payslips from July onward to check the arrears.
• Vote. The result is decided by a majority of employees who cast a valid vote, not by everyone covered.
• Look past base pay. The extra parental leave, the $500 on-call allowance and the change to one salary threshold at $145,000 are part of the package, which counts when you compare total compensation, not just salary.
• Watch the AI committee. If you are an FSU member, ask at the information sessions what powers the committee has, since the published summary gives none.

If you work at another Australian bank, use this deal as a benchmark when your own agreement comes up. For Tier 1 unpackaged employees it is one of the highest pay rises in the industry, on the union's own assessment.

Related Articles

• White-Collar Workers Won Big Raises, Now They Do Twice the Work for Less
• Australia Says AI Has Not Triggered Mass Layoffs Yet and the Data Backs It Up
• How Broadway's Cleaners Won a Better Deal Without Walking Out
• How to Ask for a Raise
• The Loyalty Tax Costing Long-Tenured Workers Thousands in Lost Raises
• What Santander's Asia Restructuring Means for Banking Jobs and Perks
• Gross vs Net Pay and Why Your Paycheck Is Smaller Than Your Salary
• Inside Jane Fraser's Ruthless Remake of Citigroup and What It Means for Bank Jobs

People Also Asked

Q: Do all Commonwealth Bank staff get a 13% pay rise?

A: No. If staff vote yes, Tier 1 unpackaged employees would get 13% over three years, the rise ABC describes as going to the lowest paid workers, while Tier 3 and 4 staff could get up to an additional 6.5% guaranteed compared with the bank's original offer.

Q: When will CBA staff get the pay rise?

A: Only after a Yes vote. The first-year rise would be backdated to 1 July 2026 and payable on a Yes vote, and the union expects the vote of all CBA employees in the coming weeks once drafting is finished.

Q: What will the CBA AI committee do?

A: That has not been published. The proposed agreement lists the introduction of an Artificial Intelligence Committee without detail on its membership or powers.

Wondering what you should earn? Metaintro brings together 50M jobs in one place. Create a free profile and start your search today.