The Finance Sector Union (FSU) has torn into Commonwealth Bank of Australia for slashing more than 150 roles just days after revealing a $2.6 billion quarterly profit in the latest skirmish between the major union and Australia’s largest bank.
CBA told workers 163 positions at the company will go, with 105 coming from the company’s main arm and 58 from its Western Australia-based subsidiary Bankwest.
The FSU said the bank told staffers about the cuts within days of revealing a six per cent profit increase in the March quarter over the same quarter last year.
Of the 105 CBA jobs lost, 90 are located in New South Wales, while the remainder are in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and Queensland.
Jason Hall, the FSU’s National Assistant Secretary, said the recent job losses brings the total cuts across CBA and Bankwest in the past year to almost 800.
“While CBA’s profits have swollen in the past year, they have sacked almost 800 workers in piecemeal announcements, no doubt in the hopes that these smaller job numbers wouldn’t be widely noticed,” Mr Hall said in a statement.
“CBA has provided insufficient detail about the latest job cuts to enable genuine consultation. The FSU has written to the bank seeking more information on the rationale for the cuts and the impact on remaining teams.
“CBA and Bankwest workers deserve job security but with announcements of job cuts every couple of months, they are instead wondering when and where the next axe will fall.”
Mr Hall said the latest cuts are mainly in customer service roles and the job losses at Bankwest are “particularly concerning” after CBA committed to 500 new roles in WA.
“Now these latest round of Bankwest cuts mean CBA has slashed almost 150 Bankwest jobs since the start of the year,” he said.
“CBA must explain to its workers and customers how it can justify these actions after another quarter of hefty profits.”
A CBA spokesperson said the major bank has hired almost 3,000 people since the start of the year and is investing more than $2b this financial year in the bank’s operations.
“Like many organisations, we regularly review how we are organised to deliver the best experiences and outcomes for our customers,” the CBA spokesperson said.
“That means some roles and work can change. Our priority is always to redeploy or reskill for a new role or opportunity wherever possible.”
The fresh sackings follows the FSU demanding answers from CBA over the axing of 164 jobs from the bank’s technology division.
Just weeks after this, the FSU hit out over plans to axe 90 roles at Bankwest.