Telstra announces plans to cut 1,100 jobs from its operations division

Updated

Telstra has announced plans to cut 1,100 jobs from its operations division by June next year.

The cuts will affect network technicians in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland and the ACT.

There will also be a review of Telstra's customer service division and media unit.

Telstra's chief operations officer, Brendon Riley, said the cuts were flagged when a restructure was announced in May.

"At the time we said we expected there to be impacts on jobs from these changes and, after reviewing the business over the last few months, today we briefed our people on the expected impacts," he said in a statement.

"Always when there are implications for people's jobs it is difficult, and this is no exception. We will work through a careful consultation process with our people and we will do so with the utmost respect and sensitivity."

Telstra says the job cuts amount to about 6 per cent of its operations workforce.

Union says workers were not properly consulted

Shane Murphy from the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union says staff members were not properly consulted about the cuts.

"When the announcement were made earlier this year by the chief operations officer, they were very generalised and there was absolutely no detail on the areas that would be affected," he said.

"There were no numbers given on how many staff would be affected."

When Telstra announced its restructure, it said cuts would focus on products that were declining in popularity, such as fixed-line telephone services.

In today's announcement, Mr Riley said Telstra planned to hire more workers as it expanded its internet services.

Unions representing workers affected by the cuts will meet with Telstra management tomorrow morning.

"Such as the 300-400 roles we need to add under our contract with Defence," he said.

"As we have said previously, Telstra is a changing business in a changing industry. We are seeing reductions of roles in declining businesses, due to evolving technologies and the restructuring of our industry, and growth in other areas."

Telcos face uncertainty as Government makes NBN changes

Telstra has not made any commentary on the Coalition's proposed changes to the National Broadband Network.

But some of its competitors have questioned the government's plan to use some of Telstra's ageing copper network under the revised rollout.

Mr Murphy says Telstra should have waited until the Government provides a clear picture on the future of the NBN before making the cuts.

"Telstra is not sure how many employees will be needed when the Federal Government makes a final announcement on the NBN," he said.

"Instead of hastily making these decisions, Telstra should have held on a little longer and see where this takes them."

The union expects to offer voluntary redundancies before making forced retrenchments.

Telstra's shares dropped slightly after the announcement.

They ended the day flat on $4.93.

Topics: business-economics-and-finance, company-news, industrial-relations, industry, telecommunications, australia

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