FIRST Union members with ANZ in New Zealand have voted for a nationwide strike in protest at proposals that they said reduced the certainty of their working hours.FIRST Union retail and finance secretary, Maxine Gay, said almost 85 per cent of its 1300 ANZ staff had voted for strike action, having already carried out several local strikes in limited numbers of branches in the past two weeks."ANZ is proposing contracts where workers would only know month by month which days, start and finish times they will be working," Gay said."Bank staff have lives outside of their job. They have childcare requirements, commitments to community, faith and sports groups," she said."Many bank workers undertake tertiary study with set lecture times.  Chopping and changing hours may suit ANZ, but it does not work for workers."Gay said workers had not specified the date for the national strike as the union wanted to give ANZ a chance to respond, although the strike would be "soon" if there was not a satisfactory ANZ response. Workers also opposed the three per cent and 2.75 per cent per annum increase in pay offered for the next two years respectively, Gay said.ANZ Spokesman, Stefan Herrick, said ANZ was disappointed the workers had opted for industrial action, but that any impact on customers was likely to be limited because only 20 per cent of ANZ's staff were union members."ANZ pays its staff very competitively compared to similar jobs in the market. The salary ranges for almost all jobs covered by this agreement are the highest in the industry," Herrick said.He said the pay offer was better than annual consumer price inflation of 1.6 per cent and average wage growth of 1.7 per cent."In addition, ANZ pays for medical/health insurance for all staff and provides all staff with discounted lending rates," he said."The proposal for flexible rosters does not casualise jobs or reduce the job security of staff. Staff working on these rosters would have an agreed number of hours that they work each month, which cannot be changed without their agreement. "Herrick said the proposal allowed for changes to be made, from time to time, to the days and start and finish times of staff who agreed to be employed on a roster to respond to changes in customer demand.