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A rally was held Melbourne on 17 Feb 12. |
15 Mar 12: Telstra proceeding with off-shoring
Telstra has notified the CWU that it is proceeding with a number of redundancies flowing from its decision to off-shore certain functions from Network Applications and Services (NA&S).
The notification has specified 30 jobs that will go, all of them from the higher technical skills levels.
Telstra Internet Direct (TID) and Layer 2 functions within Service Design and Implementation will all be outsourced, leading to the loss of ten jobs at the TW7 and TW8 levels.
A further 20 Technical Expert and Technical Specialist jobs will be lost from Customer Performance Reporting (CPR), the Managed Network Operations Centre (MNOC) and from Tabcorp Assurance.
The CWU believes that the decision to off-shore this work reflects short-term thinking that is not in the interest of Telstra itself, let alone its customers and the wider community.
The move is driven entirely by cost-cutting, especially by the search for cheap labour. Yet other Australian corporations have estimated that the financial benefits of such moves are largely illusory and are likely to be offset by the transactional costs of the exercise and the operational risks involved.
Meanwhile, the company skill pool is diminished and opportunities for highly skilled work are closed off to future telecommunications technicians.
The CWU will continue to pursue these issues in the course of the ongoing Fair Work Australia conciliation over Telstra's off-shoring decision.
3 Feb 12: CWU slams Telstra job cuts, off-shoring
The CWU has vowed to step up its campaign against Telstra's ongoing programme of job cuts and off-shoring following the company's most recent job reduction announcement.
Telstra has revealed plans to cut a further 209 jobs, with 110 to come from Sensis and 99 from Service Delivery. The Service Delivery jobs are in the area of order management, emerging technologies activation and support services.
Telstra has advised the CWU that a number of these jobs will be sent off-shore, while others are technologically redundant.
In fact, if press reports are correct, by far the greater number of these positions-some 77 jobs - are not redundant but are simply being shipped off overseas.
The move comes on top of the decision to off-shore over 280 jobs from Network Applications and Services (NAS) including high level technical work from the Next Generation Operations (NGO) area.
Telstra's off-shoring is one of a number of similar moves by Australian companies over the last few months, with ANZ announcing cuts of up to 1,000 positions at the beginning of the year. Finance sector unions expect many of these jobs to go off-shore.
The CWU believes that there is widespread concern about the off-shoring trend and aims to mobilise this public opinion through its campaign.
3 Feb 12: Optus follows suit on outsourcing
Optus has notified the CWU of its intention to shed 30 positions from its Optus Business division.
In Optus' words it intends to "enter into a strategic partnership arrangement with an external provider" to support its back office mobile and fixed provisioning functions. This is corporate-speak for outsourcing and, potentially, off-shoring.
The CWU understands the "external provider" does in fact operate both within Australia and off-shore.
Optus has indicated that there will be no retrenchments arising from this decision during the transition to the new arrangement which are scheduled to be in place by 30 September. In the meantime, opportunities for redeployment will be explored. However, there is clearly a potential for eventual redundancies under this proposal.
Any Optus members affected by this decision should contact their state branch immediately. The CWU will be responding to Optus in the coming week.
9 Dec 11: Telstra creating "skills drain" says union
The CWU has expressed alarm at Telstra's plan to send another raft of Australian jobs off-shore, this time ones that involve high-level network-related functions.
Telstra has confirmed that it is proposing to outsource about 280 Telstra jobs and an unspecified number of agency jobs from the Network Applications and Services (NAS) area. The move is part of "Project Evolution" which Telstra says aims to streamline and realign functions and services within NAS.
In particular, Telstra is planning to transfer a range of Next Generation Operations functions performed for Telstra International customers to the company's assurance centre in Hong Kong.
The bulk of these changes would occur in the first half of next year but the full outsourcing process is expected to spread over three years.
CWU Divisional Secretary Dan Dwyer said that the work being off-shored was highly skilled and performed by senior technicians.
"This move represents a double blow to the local industry and to our economy," he said. "Not only do Telstra employees in Australia stand to lose work but important skills will leave the country."
"Telstra should be helping build our national skill base, not creating a skill drain by off-shoring."
Telstra has indicated that 50 new positions will be created as part of the plan and that employees facing redundancy will have the first chance to secure these jobs. Training to allow such redeployment is also being made available.
It remains to be seen, though, whether all 280 employees will find new roles in the company. Past experience suggests this is unlikely.
The CWU has met with Telstra to discuss the proposal and the company has undertaken to provide the union with more details of the functions and staff which will be affected.
The union nationally is currently considering its further response to this proposal. In the meantime, affected members are urged to contact their state branches.
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