The Financial Services Union has criticised Westpac’s decision to cut 134 jobs across 99 branches just two months before Christmas, as it moves more of its functions online.

Finance Sector Union National President Wendy Streets said Westpac had only just agreed to develop a $5m capability fund “to support workers and provide better opportunities to those who are displaced”.

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.
Westpac has made a big show or promising to invest in its people by setting up a fund, yet now they’re cutting the very workers this fund was supposed to support.”

Earlier this week, the CPA warned accounting and finance bodies from scraping junior roles in favour of AI, warning it would have issues down the track.

Banks are among the businesses which have been early adopters of new technologies historically, as it generally allows them to cut human wages. In August, Westpac’s results showed a net profit of $1.9bn for the quarter.