The Finance Sector Union (FSU) will be seeking job guarantees for Commonwealth Bank staff in upcoming Enterprise Agreement negotiations following the bank’s confirmation that it will cut 224 jobs.
FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano said the CBA announced a $5.15 billion profit for the half year to December 2022 and should have maintained staff numbers in light of even greater profits expected from the major banks in the current half year.
“This is nothing but a naked grab for profits at the expense of bank workers who have kept the CBA functioning during the pandemic and the post-pandemic economic restart,” Ms Angrisano said.
“These are workers who are contributing to the record profits being made by the CBA and yet the bank responds by pushing them out the door.”
“The CBA has seen net interest income rise by 19 per cent as mortgage interest rates have gone up but that’s not enough for this bank.”
“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.”
The CBA has notified the FSU it will cut 158 jobs from Operations and Technology including 18 being outsourced; 38 jobs in the ‘x15 venture’ (Cheddar online app); 25 cuts in Financial Services and Risk Management and three jobs in Global Markets.
“The CBA has axed 13 bank branches so far 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,” Ms Angrisano said.
“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.”
“We will be pressing the Commonwealth Bank to stop offshoring Australian jobs to India, to stop 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 bank needs to do more to guarantee job security.”
Most jobs will be lost in NSW with 197 redundancies, along with 9 in Victoria; 16 in WA; 5 in Qld and one job in SA.
