The Westpac Bank has notified the Finance Sector Union (FSU) and bank employees in Victoria and Tasmania that another seven Westpac and Bank of Melbourne branches will close on 15 October.
The latest branches to be closed down by Westpac are: Burwood, Newcomb, Carnegie, and Preston in Victoria, and Sorrell in Tasmania.
Bank of Melbourne branches at Clayton and Port Melbourne will also close.
A total of 36 staff face the loss of their jobs or redeployment.
FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano said the latest closures follow six recent branch closures in WA, SA and Qld and a further 48 closures nationally, announced by the Westpac Group in March.
Ms Angrisano said it was time for the Westpac Group to come clean on its plans to further slash its branch network.
“Westpac knew last month it was closing down branches in Victoria and Tasmania and this latest announcement is nothing more than media spin to avoid the bad publicity of a big headline number,” she said.
“Our members in branches are concerned their jobs could be the next to go and that’s a difficult issue for staff who are working through the challenges thrown up by Covid.”
“Westpac is slashing millions from its cost base and they know exactly what the future looks like. Instead of dribbling out closure announcements Westpac needs to fess up and stop trying to avoid negative headlines.”
“The truth is that the Westpac Group is turning its back on the community who deserve to be able to access full banking services close to where they live.”
“Where does this end? Using the cover of Covid to decimate the branch network and throw large numbers of staff out of work is obscene.”
