- calendar_today September 3, 2025
CBA had sent out a redundancy package to dozens of employees in early 2023, along with the news that a new “voice bot” was being put to use handling calls and had done a good enough job to render some human positions redundant. Some employees had been with the bank for over 30 years and were let go after being assured that their work was no longer required due to reduced call volumes. The introduction of a new chatbot had enabled a reduction of around 2,000 inbound calls per week, said the bank.
What CBA had not told those it fired, or the public, was that incoming call levels were actually spiking at the time layoffs were announced. It has since become clear that management was struggling to cope with the growth in calls, redeploying team leaders to help and offering overtime to keep up with the backlog. By the end of March 2023, a bank spokesperson told the media that it was seeing as many calls as ever before.
At a Fair Work Tribunal on Friday, CBA conceded the point. “The Tribunal has found this error meant the roles were not redundant,” the bank said, according to Bloomberg. The claim that the work was no longer needed was made based on reduced calls by “several hundred a week”. But this was not the case at the time, CBA admitted.
The union that represents the workers, FSU, hailed the decision to reinstate the workers as a “massive win” and made clear that the bank’s misstep had cost jobs even if it might later restore them. The union also said that the damage to workers was not just financial, but psychological, saying that it “has had a devastating impact on the well-being of the employees concerned.”
For CBA, an apology was in order. The bank told tribunal members that it regretted that the people affected by the redundancies were never given the chance to contest the changes, and did not believe they would have been dismissed had this occurred. “We have apologized to the employees concerned and acknowledge we should have been more thorough in our assessment of the roles required,” a spokesperson for the bank told Bloomberg.
The union has also issued a stern warning to the industry at large, after a member said he had to tell his children he “could not pay the rent”. “We have made absolutely clear to management that this type of behavior will not be tolerated,” the FSU said in a statement. “AI can support a safe and productive workplace, but it should not be used as a cheap automation tool which gambles with people’s livelihoods and the integrity of the sector,” it added.
The FSU has said this could be a cautionary moment for the wider industry, which is looking to remove 200,000 banking roles in the next few years as AI tools increase their uptake. AI’s draw for banks and financial firms is undeniable. Beyond human call center staff, AI is a clear match for many back office, middle office, and operations functions that are laborious but critically important.
Financial institutions see opportunity in both efficiency gains and cost savings, but how these are achieved could be a matter of urgency after the CBA blunder. AI will remain important for the bank, which has been rapidly developing its automation capabilities in parallel with major US and Chinese banks. Last week, CBA struck a new deal with OpenAI to “accelerate” its use of generative AI, building more sophisticated tools to detect scams, reduce fraud, and offer a more personalized banking experience.
As the furore over last month’s proposed layoffs raged on last week, the bank made it clear that the partnership was about better serving customers and embedding responsible use of AI, all the while ensuring that humans were still equipped with the right skills. “We’re continuing to invest and upskill our team, ensuring everyone has the digital and data skills needed to use AI safely and responsibly in the workplace,” a spokesperson said. “We’re also ensuring our technology and processes support a safe and productive workplace,” they added, despite that process failing for dozens of workers less than a month earlier.
These assurances have done little to inspire confidence among the workers at the center of this case, who will soon have to decide whether to return to their old jobs, reapply for other roles at the bank, or finally accept their redundancy packages. A fresh warning from FSU that the trust in bank management had been broken by the layoffs has made many staff believe that this is simply the wrong employer. “The damage has already been done,” the union said in a statement. “Our members have been put through hell.”
The union has confirmed to Bloomberg that while this case is resolved, it has another challenge to the CBA working its way through the Fair Work Commission. This time it will be over a claim that the bank has breached its obligation to consult with staff about the introduction of AI and how it is used. While that fight is ongoing, other banks may also be examining their own efforts to automate, or perhaps rehire.
