Finance Sector Union slams Westpac for cutting 134 retail jobs
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The news: The Finance Sector Union (FSU) has condemned Westpac for pushing through 134 job cuts across 99 branches, calling it "heartless and disrespectful to frontline workers" less than two months from Christmas.
The numbers: The job losses affect tellers and personal bankers in every state and are part of Westpac's earlier announcement to cut 200 retail jobs as the bank continues to migrate retail functions to online.
The union says it is "deeply disappointed" that Westpac is jumping the gun on the job cuts when in September the bank agreed to establish a $5 million capability fund to support existing retail staff to upskill for the future.
The context: The FSU said Westpac should develop and establish the fund to provide opportunities for affected workers, and use the time between now and Christmas to consult with workers on a fair and transparent process that includes redeployment or voluntary redundancy.
What they said: "Westpac is jumping the gun and cutting jobs less than two months from Christmas, when it should be developing its $5 million capability fund to support workers and provide better opportunities to those who are displaced," said FSU national president Wendy Streets.
"These are tellers and personal bankers who have stood by customers during a difficult few years and they deserve respect, consultation and the time to make real decisions about their future, without being rushed out the door.
"Westpac has a choice: it can pause these cuts and treat its people with fairness and decency and work with us to find solutions, or it can prove that its choosing the path of chaos and putting profits over people."
The source: FSU media release
