The Finance Sector Union of Australia (FSU) is a white collar trade union that represents professionals working in the Banking, Finance, Insurance and Superannuation industries in Australia. The FSU was formed from the amalgamation in 1991 of various smaller unions drawn from the banking, insurance, trustee, brokering, and general finance industries. History The origins of the Finance Sector Union of Australia (FSU) extend back to 1919, when the Australian Bank Officers' Association (ABOA) was formed. The Australian Insurance Staffs' Federation (AISF) followed in 1920. An abortive attempt had been made to form an association of bank officers in 1913, but the bank clerk responsible for the move was discovered and summarily dismissed. However, ex-servicemen returning from the trenches of World War I were in no mood to be dealt with in the same way, and it was the self-belief which they had developed on the battlefields of France and the Middle East which gave them the confidence to form their own, independent staff association. This did not necessarily mean that they had become radicalised as such, or that it was their intention to radicalise the finance sector. Indeed, both the ABOA and the AISF remained deeply conservative organisations for many years; terms such as association and federation were quite deliberately chosen to distinguish these organisations from their militant, blue-collar cousins. It is necessary, however, to consider the organisational context in which the ABOA and AISF operated in the early decades of the 20th century. To begin, there were no female employees in either banking or insurance companies in Australia at this time. Recruits were drawn almost exclusively from rural and semi-rural areas, and especially from conservative middle-class families where the father was a lawyer, doctor, or member of some other respected profession. Employment in the finance sector at this time attached to itself a high degree of prestige; but the actual work – especially in the lower echelons – was tedious, repetitive, heavily supervised, and poorly paid. Moreover, an employee's cadetship (which could last for up to two years) was entirely unpaid, requiring that they be supported by their family; this helped justify the practice of drawing recruits from the middle classes. Employees were required to wear formal suits; were required to doff their hats and address their superiors as "sir"; were prohibited from marrying until such time as the bank believed they could financially support a family and thus