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5001. I thank Judith Sloan for helpful comments regarding an earlier draft, two anonymous referees and the many bank employees and officials of the Australian Bank Employees Union for their assistance. None of the above are responsible for the analysis presented.Under the auspices of the 'second tier' of the 1987 wages system, the Australian Bank Employees Union (ABEU) and the major private banks agreed to abandon assumptions which had, for seventy years, underpinned industry awards. By the 1980s the Bank Officials (1963) Award was unable to address changing skill requirements or resolve the dilemma of career blockage. To the average customer the face of banking changed dramatically during the 1980s, but less obvious were changes to the nature of work, skills and career prospects for the average bank employee. By guaranteeing yearly wage increments and promotion based on seniority, the traditional award promised security and career-oriented employment for male employees. By the mid-1980s the majority of bank employees were women, part-timers were increasing, promotion opportunities were declining and a case could be advanced that wages failed to reflect the new 'selling skills' demanded of many employees. Wage rates linked to jobs, the content of which had altered considerably in the previous twenty years, added to the unreality of the award. Accordingly, award restructuring aimed at addressing these changes through the introduction of job evaluation and performance-based promotion was undertaken. Based upon the Hay methodology, the new system, at least in theory, would offer promotion and salary increments only on the basis of merit.The Australian banking industry has experienced dramatic changes in the past ten years in the way it conducts business, utilizes technology and, with regard to management and specialist areas, seeks skilled labour. During the early 1980s, federal governments presided over reviews of the financial system with a view to deregulation and granting new banking licences. It was widely thought that the trading and savings banks were too uncompetitive (that they had become a club) and their lending policies too conservative; in effect, that they were not prepared to take appropriate risks to boost flagging industries or foster new ones. By the time deregulation was enacted the domestic banks were well prepared. Indeed, the banks' gearing up for deregulation hastened the rate of change in the career opportunities and skill requirements demanded in an increasingly computer-based banking system. With the expectation that a more 'price and service'-competitive industry would transpire, a number of