Union accuses bank of offshoring roles to its Indian operations
The Finance Sector Union is accusing the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) of attempting to send roles offshore after the organisation allegedly readvertised some positions overseas that it made redundant last week.
The FSU alleges that the CBA put up new job postings for its Indian operations that have similar titles to the ones that it is cutting in Australia.
Among the positions that were cut in the country include 176 technology and engineering roles, as well as nearly 100 other roles in its business banking, institutional banking and markets, human resources, and retail banking and support functions.
The CBA had attributed the cuts to workflow automation and streamlining, but FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said the union "doesn't buy the bank's excuse."
"This is a bank that regularly turns billions of dollars in profit and claims to invest in skilling and developing local workers, yet continues to brutally axe local jobs in favour of offshoring for even greater profits," Angrisano said as quoted by The Australian.
The FSU said it plans to file a formal complaint over the cuts to demand real rationale on the redundancies, with plans to raise the matter to the Fair Work Commission.
"CEO Matt Comyn recently said about global partnerships 'the best partnerships build Australian capability, not substitute it,'" Angrisano said.
"If he is genuine about building Australian capability, he can start by not giving Australian jobs to our global partners and by being straight with his own staff."
CBA defends workforce changes
A spokesman from the CBA told The Australian that the changes in the bank reflect "broader shifts" in how its work is organised and delivered.
"In some cases, following the proposed changes remaining activities may be redistributed across existing teams in those locations," the spokesman told the news outlet.
"This reflects how residual work would be managed under the proposed changes and is not the reason for the changes."
The CBA previously acknowledged that it regularly reviews the roles and skills it needs to deliver the best customer outcomes.
"Some tasks and skills required are changing, some roles are reducing as programmes finish, and new roles are being created," the spokesman said as quoted by The Australian.
This is not the first time that the CBA faced accusations of offshoring roles to its Indian operations. Last year, the bank also refuted FSU's accusations that it made local workers redundant while simultaaneously hiring for the same roles in India.
