Yahoo Finance Westpac slammed over jobs move: ‘At our wits end’
Westpac will axe a further 116 jobs, and more are expected.
Westpac has been slammed after it announced a further 116 permanent jobs were being cut from the Premier Banking department. This comes after the bank already cut 300 jobs last week.
On top of that, even more jobs could be on the line from the Mortgage Operations and Commercial Relationship banking departments. Westpac has not yet announced the total number of jobs to go, just that more workers face the axe.
Finance Sector Union (FSU) national secretary Julia Angrisano estimated this series of job cuts would bring the total number of jobs lost over the past fortnight to more than 500.
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“Unfortunately, this isn’t the end of the carnage in lost jobs at Westpac,” Angrisano said.
“Westpac has spent the past two years savagely slicing into its national branch network and now senior executives are taking the butcher’s knife to carve through a range of back-office functions.
“Westpac pleads it is cutting costs in order to manage expenses but these lost jobs aren’t numbers on a balance sheet, they are loyal bankers who have given years of service to their employer and helped make Westpac a large, successful and highly profitable operation.”
Westpac staff devastated
Angrisano said staff were shocked and distressed by the news. Many impacted staff reached out to the union expressing their dismay.
“After 21 years with the group and accepting a new role from them only 11 months ago, I have been made redundant,” one staff member told the FSU.
“They have also done this leading up to a time where I lose my bonus I have worked so hard for this year.”
“Why? We are all at our wits’ end and exhausted. Being in branch land, we are the ones receiving the verbal abuse and the ones who have to live within our community,” another staff member said.
“I have a young child and we were planning to have another baby within the next year, which now may have to be put on hold because, if I have to start a new role at another company, I won’t be eligible for parental leave,” another told the FSU.
“I’m already 35 and so delaying a year can make a big difference, on top of the fact that our finances are becoming tighter due to the cost of living and interest rate increases pushing up our mortgage payments, so the thought of finding a new job is very stressful.”
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