CBA reportedly culling more staff as workers dispute negligible pay deals

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is rumoured, once again, to be eyeing off job cuts, according to reports.

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on HR Leader’s sister brand, Banking Daily.

According to a text sent to popular Instagram page The Aussie Corporate, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is looking to cut over 300 staff, with potentially more at the end of the year.

This follows 850 Australian jobs the bank has already cut this year.

“CBA change window 6-363 employees impacted, Another cull in Business banking, HR and tech. And there’s talks of redundancies at Christmas time too…” the anonymous text reads.

While the bank has not yet made news of cuts, the Finance Sector Union (FSU) has highlighted a pay dispute between CBA and thousands of its workers.

“Staff at [CBA] have told the [FSU] they fear homelessness or financial ruin unless they receive a pay offer that delivers real wage growth,” the FSU wrote.

The concern is that the current pay offer would mean that around 71 per cent of the bank’s Australian workforce would receive an increase less than inflation in the first year, while 47 per cent would either receive no guaranteed increase at all, or just 2.5 per cent over three years.

The FSU pointed out that CBA reported an after-tax profit in August of $11 billion, while chief executive Matt Comyn’s pay packet increased by 30 per cent to $9.1 million.

In direct contrast, the lowest-paid staff at CBA make just $2.82 more than the national minimum wage ($26.44).

FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said she sent a letter to CBA regarding staff concerns.

“CBA’s current offer rubs salt into employees’ wounds and only widens the already obscene pay disparity between management and the workers,” Angrisano said.

“I want Matt Comyn to read the thousands of comments we’ve received and tell everyone that he is okay with how his employees are faring.

“We should not have working poor in Australia, but that is exactly what we are seeing at CBA.

“Workers turn up every day to pay the bills, afford a better home and make ends meet.

“CBA can afford to do better... it’s workers certainly deserve better.”

The FSU also highlighted comments from staff included in the letter, some of which said they were concerned about homelessness as soon as it happened unexpectedly, while others said it demonstrated a lack of recognition of value.

“It’s insulting to be offered a ‘pay rise’ which is below inflation – that’s a pay cut,” said one staffer.

“There are no holidays, no eating out, no extracurricular activities for the kids anymore. We are pretty much just breaking even each month, holding our breath for the next bill increase or rate rise to send us over the edge,” said another.

As of the time of filing this story, CBA has not yet commented on either the pay dispute or rumours of staff cuts.

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