Action has been launched against the country’s biggest bank over claims it carried out “sham” redundancies in Australia to take advantage of cheap overseas labour.

The Commonwealth Bank announced in June it was making 304 roles across its technology and retail departments redundant.

But the Finance Sector Union argues the CBA breached the Enterprise Agreement when it was “caught” advertising the same jobs at its Indian subsidiary in Bangalore, India.

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The union said 110 of the roles advertised to be based at CBA India had the same job title as those involved in the redundancies.

“By hiring for the same job, at their own Indian subsidiary, they’re showing themselves to have breached the Enterprise Agreement and essentially lied to their workers,” FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said.

“This is the very definition of bad faith.”

According to Clause 36 of the EBA, redundancies can occur if work is no longer required, needs to be done at a different location which is not within a reasonable commuting distance, or if the role is restructured so that some or all of the duties of the position are split up between one or more other positions.

‘Sham redundancy action’

The union said its members had been left “outraged” and is taking its claims to the Fair Work Commission.

“We do not believe that the redundancies outlined in these change processes are in fact genuine redundancies and that in doing so, CBA has breached the terms of the Agreement,” Angrisano said.

“These jobs are not required to be done in India, they’re just moving the work there to take advantage of cheaper labour and further line their own pockets.”

Angrisano said Australian taxpayers are “paying for the sham redundancy action”.

“Bona fide redundancies are taxed concessionally in the hands of the workers. It is especially disgusting that the nation’s richest company is also reducing the tax take as it makes the final payment to hundreds of Australians that we know are being sacked solely to have their work performed offshore,” Angrisano said

The Commonwealth Bank said the FSU “did not raise any concerns” about like-for-like job changes during formal consultation, and said there “is no basis to their allegations”.

“Like many organisations, we regularly review how we are organised to deliver the best experiences and outcomes for our customers,” a bank spokesperson said.

“We have been transparent in communicating workforce shifts with our technology team over the last three years.

“This includes being explicit about roles which are declining and offering reskilling and upskilling opportunities to people in those roles.”

The union savaged the CBA in March for slashing more than 150 jobs shortly after revealing a $2.6 billion quarterly profit.