CWU (T&S) VIC MEDIA RELEASE
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION, Communications Division, Telecommunications & Services Branch Victoria, a division of the CEPU (Communications Electrical Plumbing Union) representing Telstra, Australia Post, Optus, ESTA and other communications sector employees.
FURTHER HIGH LEVEL TELSTRA TECHNICAL STAFF CUTS WILL KILL OFF REGIONAL VICTORIAN JOBS
Communications Workers Union Victorian Secretary John Ellery met with the Telstra Wideband Design staff from the Dowling Street, Wendouree (Vic) site today. This follows an initial announcement last week that Telstra “intends” to shut that office, removing 19 technical jobs in Ballarat, and that “consultation” was to commence regarding the proposed closures.
“As has been experienced in the past, Telstra’s proposals are pretty much set in concrete from the time they publically make the announcement. When you start joining up the dots, reports from our members indicate that this plan was in play months ago. 19 highly skilled technical staff will lose their jobs in Ballarat, and further losses in Adelaide and Hobart total 53 Telstra jobs from the Wideband Design area”, said Mr Ellery.
“Wideband Design encompasses a variety of tasks, but predominantly is all the preliminary work for building the newer data network (mainly fibre) that Telstra do for a variety of regional Victorian telecommunications projects such as at trotting and greyhound tracks, schools, work for other Telco carriers such as Optus, Southern Cross TV, Bendigo hospital, NBN Co POI (Point of Interconnect) sites, mining sites, and also some international DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing – which increases the capacity of data over optical fibre links) projects”
“Telstra are in an advanced mode of cost cutting that has been hastened under the most recent CEO, Andy Penn – having been elevated from the Chief Financial Officer position to CEO to replace David Thodey in May 2015. Australian jobs are constantly bleeding from this once great publically owned company. It looks like they are suffering from a bean counting driven reduction that will be counterproductive for Telstra in the first degree.
The announced cuts are all about Telstra reducing costs at the expense of secure Australian jobs. Telstra’s preferred model of “contracting out” the high end technical work to lower cost sub-contractors, who in turn use some other dubious means of offshoring and further pyramiding of contract arrangements including, we understand, the use of staff by these sub-contractors who are 457 visa holders mean that this Australian company is adding immensely to the rapid loss of jobs”, Mr Ellery went on to say.
“The Australian government has to really get serious about the loss of Australian high tech jobs, and place some form of disincentive onto these Australian companies who are utilising these cost cutting tactics. When you think about the money that is lost to the Australian Government’s budget bottom line by the reduction in PAYG income tax as a result of jobs either going offshore, or being performed by low cost, exploited labour both in Australia and overseas, the penny should have dropped ages ago with the Treasurer. Surely the rhetoric of “budget repair” should involve some basic action by the government to stem the loss of Australian jobs, particularly in the Telecommunications Sector”, concluded Mr Ellery