Behind the Business Attire, Many Bank Workers Earn Poverty Wages

[marmar]

(In These Times) Walking into a bank, a customer is usually interacting with a teller dressed in business attire. The clothing gives the impression of relatively high, stable wages, maybe even a comfortable perch somewhere in the middle or upper-middle class. But the collared shirts and pressed slacks may be hiding the reality: a significant portion of customer service workers in the retail banking industry make salaries low enough to make public assistance necessary.

The Committee for Better Banks (CBB), a Communications Workers of America (CWA)-affiliated community and labor coalition, was created in 2013 to put an end to that. Cassaundra Plummer, a Maryland-based CBB member currently employed as a bank teller at TD Bank, told In These Times, “A lot of the issues within the banks are not discussed, they’re kept really quiet. As a young woman, I always thought that working at a bank was more of a prestigious job than retail. Once I actually got into banking, I realized that it’s not a whole lot different.”

The CBB, which has grown from eight members in April to approximately 60 active members in six different states today, is hoping to expand and create a critical mass of organized workers by bringing these issues out in the open.

A study released by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) early this month shored up CBB claims, finding that 30.4% of the 1.7 million retail banking employees across the country—more than 500,000 workers—are paid less than $15 an hour. Nearly three-quarters of low-wage bank workers are bank tellers, 84.3% of which are women. ..................(more)

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18349/behind_the_business_attire_many_bank_workers_earn_poverty_wages

[haikugal]

1. Banks and Insurance Co's have never paid enough to workers. Ever. n/t

[yeoman6987]

3. It is a problem, but the alternative doesn't seem too either

You want to walk into a bank full of professional looking employees because you are safeguarding your money. Do we want to walk into a bank with emoployees wearing junky clothes? Not so much. And worse if you are trying to get a loan and the employee is dressed down?

[haikugal]

9. It isn't about the dress code, which is appropriate in my view...

It's the fact that they require a certain level of competence and ability while paying so little...they have never payed employees what they're worth.

[yeoman6987]

12. Which still stumps me that employees still apply for these jobs

I never worked in a bank, but something must be attractive to have applicants wanting them. If the banks suddenly didn't have anybody applying for the positions, they'd have to make the financial aspects more attractive. It would be interesting to hear from a teller on why they applied and why they stay. Could be the hours, guaranteed Sunday's off and holidays off. Otherwise I have no idea.

[haikugal]

15. I worked for home offices in banks, drug store chains and insurance co's..

They're all the same.

People go where they can find employment. Sometimes they need to be close to home or there isn't anything else unless you drive 45 to 50 miles each way...that costs money, and an extra 4 days a month without pay. We haven't had a gung-ho economy for most of my life and a good job is hard to find.

Look at all the people who thought college would increase their chances...

People didn't just start hurting, it's been true for decades. What once came with a job now doesn't plus time off and sick pay? Don't get me started...lol

Times are tough.

[leftyladyfrommo]

2. I have a friend that is a full time teller.

She takes home about $1,000 a month.

And they are always the ones who have to deal with bank robbers sticking guns in their faces.

[yeoman6987]

4. That is probably 10 or 11 dollars an hour before deductions.

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. Tellers have always been the low guys on the totem pole.

But a lot of the other office type jobs in banks are really low pay, too. People who work in the back processing transactions have never made all that much. I was doing mortgage work for a bank in the 70's making about $350. When I changed and went to work for a mortgage company I started at $850. Doesn't sound like much now but I could live on that then.

[yeoman6987]

7. I could never understand why employees pick a bank to work at

Most require college degree and could make more money elsewhere. I guess they might think it adds to the resume or is a good first Job.

[lonestarnot]

14. Maybe they think they will run into richie rich and he/she will throw them a bone.

[DawgHouse]

16. Actually not always but since these positions became

mostly occupied by women, the pay rate decreased. Same with teachers and secretaries, if I recall correctly.

Those old black and white photos of male secretaries, bankers, teachers, etc., were a time when these jobs were paid well enough to support a family. I wish I could remember the statistics but I believe it may have been addressed in Nickel and Dimed, but not sure.

Here's a quick link to a paper about it. That's all I got.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/349451?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

[notadmblnd]

10. It's less than that.

more like 8 or 9. I remember when I worked at a bank, starting pay was 2.10 an hour in the proof department. Tellers made approx 108.00 a week before deductions. That was in 1976. When I left ten years later I wasn't even making 20k a year. I don't imagine banks pay any more than minimum wage now. Maybe if you're really good at up selling financial products- one can make more.

[Freddie]

5. Because bank teller is traditionally "women's work"

School-day hours (back when banks closed at 3:00). Back in the day bank teller was a "pink-collar" job: low pay and high responsibility, because banks could get away with it. Unlike nursing and teaching, which require a college education and market forces/labor shortages have forced wages up, nothing of the sort has happened in lower-level banking jobs.
My son (25) is a bank teller making $11/hour while he figures out what to do with his life (has a BS in biology). He mostly likes the job and is grateful to not be working at Walmart and to have normal working hours.

[yeoman6987]

8. Your son has a valuable degree. It's not like he majored in sociology.

I think he could easily get a job teaching and a host of other employment offers. I do understand the need to take some time to figure out what you want to do in life though. That's typically what the first job is for.

[TexasBushwhacker]

11. I suggest he give teaching a try

Many school districts have alternative certification programs. Frankly, if he's good in any sports, he might be able to get a coach/science teacher job. Some schools hold science and social studies jobs open to give them to coach/teachers.

[yeoman6987]

13. Perfect reply!!!!!

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. Oddly enough, a bachelor's degree in biology often

isn't worth all that much unless he got some specialized training in some kind of biotechnology. He may have several hours in chemistry that might make him more marketable. The sciences pretty much require at least a Master's Degree.

I got my teaching certificate while I was in college, so that was my game plan from he start. But I knew another teacher with a BS in biology who had returned to school to get her certificate. The only job she was able to get her BS was analyzing stool samples.

[yeoman6987]

21. Oh no. Poor person. What a job.

[TexasBushwhacker]

22. Not the WORST job

I had a friend who was a CMA - Certified Medical Assistant. She had several years experience and had been happily working for a dermatologist practice. Then they added a new doctor and they didn't get along with her AT ALL. So they fired her. She looked and looked, but the only position she could find was for a urologist who specialized in vasectomies. So her job, all day every day, was to shave balls.

[Freddie]

18. He was going to be a science teacher but...

He was kicked out of the teaching program due to the issues that landed him in drug rehab. Thankfully he was able to finish his BS in biology locally. He's an (at the moment) recovering addict and doing ok. He'll probably do the fairly low-stress bank job for a while and then go to grad school for PA or OT. Smart kid made some stupid decisions.

[Snarkoleptic]

19. I was in the business from 1986 - 2010 and experienced plenty of highs and lows.

Looking back, I'd say it's a business obsessed with growth, mainly achieved through consolidation and acquisition. There is no shortage of sociopaty in the management ranks as well as those aspiring 'climbers'. For me it was the best of times and the worst of times. What drove me out was being laid off 4-times in 8.5 years, which was tough on us as a single-income family. The last 3-years, I went indy and was summarily crushed by new regulations that were pushed for by the big banks (esp. Chase).

[MisterP]

20. hey, they came up with profiting not by goods or services,

but by burning the company to the ground and then selling off what's left

and it all starts at home