Westpac has announced to staff and the FSU that a major restructure in Westpac IT department will slash 188 Westpac jobs.

The job cuts, mainly in Sydney and Adelaide, will mean that a number of IT functions will no longer be handled by Westpac, and will instead be provided by outside companies both in Australia and offshore.

The job cuts are part of an 18 month long program of reducing Westpac roles and replacing those roles with outsourced and offshore providers. These job cuts come in the wake of Westpac announcing a record net profit of $6.9 billion.

FSU Members have said consistently that outsourced and offshore providers do not provide the same quality service as provided by in-house Westpac staff, with the rectification of errors and miscommunications from outsourced and offshore providers soaking up valuable time and resources better spent delighting customers.

Surveys of the community have consistently shown a strong distrust of offshoring jobs and concern over the security of customer financial data.

What makes this announcement more surprising is that Westpac itself has recognised that past outsourcing and offshoring of jobs has failed, as evidenced by 600 jobs previously outsourced to HP in Adelaide being returned to Westpac. Short term cost savings don’t add up in the long run, and Westpac should recognise that this is also the case with this latest decision to outsource and offshore IT jobs.

Are you affected by today’s announcement?
Contact the FSU Member Rights Centre on 1300 366 378 for advice about your rights.

The FSU will continue to fight offshoring and outsourcing of jobs and skills in the finance sector.

How does offshoring and outsourcing affect you?
Have your say and post a comment on the FSU online forum.

Be part of the campaign to keep finance jobs in Australia and join your union today.