The Finance Sector Union slashed the number of staff employed in its national and state offices last year by almost a third.
Disclosures in the union’s latest financial accounts show that 39 roles were culled in the 12 months to the end of June last year, which reduced the staff headcount to only 83.
The job reductions were part of a comprehensive restructuring program to rein in costs across the organisation following several years of operating in the red.
The union is battling to counter the impact of branch closures on membership that have been hastened by the pandemic and customer shifts to online banking.
The decline in FSU membership accelerated last year, with the number of fee-paying members sliding by 1788 people to 25,853.
In 2020 the union’s national membership declined by 880 to 27,641.
While deep cost cuts helped to improve the FSU’s financial performance in 2021, the union still posted a net operating deficit of A$1.01 million.
That was a marked improvement on the $4.3 million deficit recorded in 2020, but the runoff in membership subscriptions is likely to have continued in the current financial year as most banks brought forward their branch rationalisation programs during the third wave of the pandemic.
The union posted a $3.4 million increase in revenue to $17.9 million last year, but most of the improvement was attributable to increases in the market value of investments.
One of the FSU’s biggest recurring cost items are levies it pays to the Australian Council of Trade Union and the Australian Labor Party.
The union donated around $145,000 to state arms of the ALP in 2021 – in line with the level of donations it made in 2020.
That commitment could increase this year given that a federal election is due to be held before the end of May.