ANZ appears set to re-open enterprise talks with the Finance Sector Union after a seven-year absence from the bargaining table. In a member update posted on its website on Wednesday the union said it was due to meet with ANZ management on Friday to discuss  “a potential timeframe for negotiations”. The preliminary talks come after ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott signalled in December his bank’s intention to enter a fresh round of enterprise bargaining. ANZ last negotiated an enterprise agreement with the FSU in 2015. While the terms of that deal have since been modified, the bank has skirted interaction with the union by putting proposed changes to pay and conditions directly to staff ballots. The FSU has intensified its calls for a fresh industrial agreement since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 forced radical changes to the working conditions of bank staff. Recent amendments to the Fair Work Act passed by federal parliament in December have made it more difficult for employers to avoid engaging with unions to update enterprise agreements. Under the reforms, unions can force employers to re-enter industrial bargaining if the last enterprise agreement has expired. The FSU is attributing ANZ’s return to the bargaining table to the government’s reforms. “This legislation has been a major victory for members in bringing one of the industry’s largest employers back to the bargaining table after ANZ management had rejected calls by union members to bargaining over pay and conditions for the last seven years,” the union said on its website. “The union will be holding ANZ colleague briefing sessions following Friday’s meeting to discuss the timeframe for negotiations and how we intend to secure industry leave pay and conditions across ANZ.”