Last week Westpac announced that it intends to offshore 68 positions from the BT Bedford Park site in Adelaide. Added to the 25 positions announced to be offshored from the Concord Operational Centre in NSW on 12 September, this means that Westpac has abolished a total of 93 Australian jobs in September.

Whose jobs are next to be offshored?
Last year Westpac did engage with employees when it was considering offshoring up to 485 jobs from Concord. Westpac has moved away from its previous position of consulting with employees and their union prior to making any decisions to offshore jobs.

This year Westpac has refused to consult before making decisions about offshoring.

That means it's up to you to keep an eye out for changes that may indicate Westpac are thinking of offshoring a position or section. Below are some tips for keeping an eye on possible offshoring changes:

• Temporary Staff: Has there been a steady increase in the number of temporary staff?

• Restructures: Have there been restructures that suspiciously isolate certain functions and create specialist roles?

• Software Trials: Has software necessary to do the job been subject to trials to allow remote access?

• Management Business Trips: Have line Managers been taking business trips to exotic destinations such as India?

Westpac: Back your Australian Workforce

• Westpac should be fair dinkum about giving employees the opportunity to look at alternatives to job losses.

• Australian employees are productive and Westpac should invest in Australia where their profits are generated.

• The 68 jobs cut in Adelaide will be from the BT Wrap Department. BT's Wrap platform now has over $27 Billion under administration, with new business growing by 34 per cent last year (Westpac 2006 Concise Annual Report).