FSU says job cuts are "a grab for profits at the expense of bank workers"
Commonwealth Bank will eliminate as many as 230 jobs as the end of the financial year approaches. The bank has denied union claims that it has slashed jobs in its financial crimes units.
CBA notified the Financial Sector Union of the cuts last week, according to a report by The Australian. The bank has been rolling out the cuts in recent days.
The job cuts come as the bank prepares to release its third-quarter trading update this month and its full-year results in August, The Australian reported.
Most of the job cuts will affect the bank’s information and technology segments. At least 158 jobs will be slashed in the operations and technology teams.
The FSU said that it has been told 18 of those jobs were being outsourced, according to The Australian. Some affected staff may be reassigned to other roles within CBA.
The bank is also axing 38 jobs from its venture-building unit, x15 ventures. Another 25 jobs will be axed from the financial services and risk management teams – roles the FSU claimed were part of CBA’s anti-fraud and scam efforts.
“Australian consumers have faced record losses from scams over the past year, with $3.1 billion stolen, and yet the CBA is now sacking a substantial number of workers from its financial crimes area,” FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano told The Australian.
The bank, however, said it had made no role reduction in its fraud and scam teams.
“In fact, we have increased the numbers of people working there over the last two quarters specifically,” a CBA spokesman told The Australian.
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CBA’s global markets teams will see three positions eliminated. The bank has also slashed as many as 10 jobs in marketing and corporate services, in cuts separate to those disclosed to the FSU, The Australian reported.
“Grab for profits”
Angrisano said the job cuts were “nothing but a naked grab for profits at the expense of bank workers.”
“The CBA has seen net interest income rise by 19% as mortgage interest rates have gone up, but that’s not enough for this bank,” she told The Australian. “The CBA consistently puts profits before people, and in this case, we know these jobs are being axed to boost profits. It’s an obscene and immoral decision which staff at the CBA don’t deserve.”
Angrisano said the bank had already closed 13 branches this year “and now those staff who remain at the bank will be called on to work even harder and even longer hours to cover the work that these retrenched workers currently perform.
Angrisano said the FSU would press the bank to stop offshoring jobs, end forced redundancies and stop closing branches.
“That’s because of an overwhelming response from our members at the CBA that job security is a key issue and the banks need to do more to guarantee job security,” she told The Australian.
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