The Finance Sector Union (FSU) has blasted Westpac’s decision to cut 200 teller roles, warning the move will strip away vital face-to-face services and force loyal staff out of work.
In May, The Australia Today has reported that the bank’s new chief executive, Anthony Miller, is driving a cost-cutting campaign aimed at simplifying systems and technology under a transformation program dubbed “Unite.”
The bank confirmed it will phase out the positions over the next 12 months, replacing them with concierges who will steer customers towards its app, ATMs and online banking.
At the same time, Westpac plans to hire 200 new home and business lenders to grow its loan book as part of a major restructure that could ultimately see more than 1500 roles cut.
FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano accused Westpac of disguising mass redundancies as “digital transformation,” saying workers were being told to help customers migrate online — effectively eliminating their own jobs.
“Communities still rely on face-to-face banking and workers should not be sacrificed for cost-cutting dressed up as innovation,” Angrisano said in a statement.
“Our expectation is clear: no worker should lose their job. We will hold Westpac to account every step of the way.”
The union is demanding redeployment and retraining for affected staff, and has questioned the effectiveness of a $5 million “development fund” announced by the bank to help employees upskill.
Westpac defended the cuts, saying they reflected changing customer behaviour, with 96 per cent of transactions now conducted online.
“In the past year, 33 staff have moved from branches to become home finance managers, and we expect this trend to continue,” Westpac’s general manager of retail banking Damien MacRae said in an email to staff quoted by AFR.
“Over the coming year, we will appoint around 200 more lenders and bankers to achieve our home lending and small business ambitions. At the same time, we will need around 200 fewer tellers and personal bankers’ roles in retail banking.”
A Westpac spokesman added that the bank tries to keep as many employees as possible within the group through retraining and redeployment, while continuing to invest $200 million over the next three years in digital services, ATMs and branch upgrades.
But the FSU insists Westpac’s plans are a test case for how employers manage technological change, warning that workers must be reskilled and redeployed, not discarded.
The Westpac cuts follow a broader trend across the banking sector. ANZ recently announced 3500 redundancies, NAB shed 410 jobs and offshored 127 roles, while Bendigo Bank and Bank of Queensland have also slashed staff and closed branches.
Unions warn the growing wave of cuts will not only devastate employees but also reduce access to essential banking services, especially in regional communities where face-to-face banking remains a lifeline.
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