- by Marcus Browning
- The Guardian
- Issue #2163
Photos: Finance Sector Union FaceBook
The Finance Sector Union (FSU) says NAB’s decision to cut 410 jobs just a day after ANZ axed 3,500 proves banks are moving in lockstep against workers. NAB’s cuts will affect 728 workers. This follows Bank of Queensland announcing it would cut 200 jobs
NAB intends to establish 127 new roles in India and Vietnam, shifting work performed in Australia overseas.
The job losses come despite NAB reporting billions in profit. Workers face uncertainty about their futures while profitable banks replace workers in secure jobs with offshoring and automation.
The FSU say they will fight NAB’s cuts as fiercely as they are fighting ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank job cuts, demanding accountability and secure local jobs.
Finance Sector Union National President Wendy Streets said, “Two banks in two days slashing jobs, it’s shameful. This isn’t one rogue bank, it’s the whole sector driving the same agenda at the expense of workers and communities.
“It is a betrayal of 728 workers and their families. Profits in their billions, jobs in the bin, banks are showing open contempt for their own people.
“Cuts this deep don’t just hurt staff they hollow out services for customers and communities who rely on NAB.
“First ANZ, now NAB. One after the other, banks are swinging the axe. These cuts are destructive to the people who make the banks’ success possible.”
The FSU has condemned ANZ for betraying 3,500 workers in one of the world’s most profitable banks, saying planned cuts are unhinged, reckless, unnecessary and driven by pure greed.
The FSU says it’s a huge insult that workers who have found out their jobs are on the line through a news alert that’s popped up on their phone while they’re making their breakfast or getting the kids ready for school.
This comes off the back of ANZ’s credibility already being in question after a humiliating email botch-up under CEO Nuno Matos’ leadership revealed job cuts to staff once again before they had even been briefed.
The union said this shows contempt for staff, customers and the community.
When asked by the FSU who would do the work of the 3,500 sacked staff, ANZ had no answer – except to say the work would simply stop. The FSU will be fighting for workers by taking this to the Fair Work Commission.
Streets said, “This isn’t a plan, it’s chaos. You cannot build the future of one Australia’s biggest banks on secrecy, incompetence and betrayal.
“Workers built this bank and kept it strong through crisis after crisis, now those same workers are being discarded so ANZ executives can feed an out-of-control profit machine.”
The Bank of Queensland plans to cut 200 jobs as a result of a deal with outsourcing giant CapGemini, including axing and sending offshore more than half of its contact centre workforce.
The cuts include 165 roles in the contact centre – more than 50 per cent of the Australian workforce in that division, 20 roles in collections, and the remainder in retail, lending and audit roles.
This comes on top of BOQ’s earlier decision to close branches across Australia – a clear sign that the bank is walking away from both staff and its customers. While BOQ runs glossy campaigns about being the “Bank of Queenslanders,” the reality is jobs are being offshored and local communities are being left behind.
The work is slated to be shifted offshore, with CapGemini operating a large base in India.
The bank’s plans also highlight further threats from automation and artificial intelligence, with CapGemini also engaged to accelerate BOQ’s move to AI. Despite having run a full tender process over months, staff have only just been told their jobs are on the line which the FSU says demonstrates management’s complete disregard for workers.
The FSU demands BOQ scrap its offshoring plan, rule out forced redundancies, guarantee redeployment and training for affected workers and be upfront with customers about how outsourcing, automation and AI will impact service.
FSU National Secretary Julia Angrisano said:
“This process has been planned in secret and then dumped on workers with no warning. BOQ staff deserve honesty and respect, not to be blindsided about the future of their jobs.
“We warned that once CBA opened the door to outsourcing and AI, the other banks would follow and BOQ’s decision proves we were right.
“It’s not just BOQ – ANZ and NAB workers were treated appallingly last week, with emails instructing them how to return their laptops before many had even been told their jobs were gone. Right across the sector, bank workers are being treated as disposable.
“This is a race to the bottom with fewer secure jobs for workers in Australia and poorer service for customers. Once one bank moves the others follow.”
