10000 jobs threatened
By KATE HANNON
23jan02
Herald Sun
UP to 10,000 Telstra jobs could be threatened if a plan by the telecommunications giant to contract out its key maintenance area succeeds.
Telstra is due to try private contracting of telephone network installation and repairs in Sydney and Melbourne in April.
Federal Opposition communications spokesman Lindsay Tanner claims Telstra is planning privatisation by stealth and places a question mark over jobs and service levels.
The main Telstra union, the CEPU, said contracting out the area would "gut" Telstra's blue collar workforce in metropolitan areas placing thousands of jobs under a cloud.
Mr Tanner said he had seen documents outlining the plan to pay contractors a monthly fee to deliver service and maintenance of the Customer Access Network for residential and small business users in metropolitan areas.
"Telstra is preparing to outsource the very heart of its business: service and maintenance of the telephone network," he said.
"This is privatisation by stealth."
A spokeswoman for Telstra confirmed the company was considering trying different business models for maintenance but said details were yet to be decided.
"As to 10,000 jobs -- absolute mischief-making," she said.
She said it was far too early to speculate on the result of the tests to take place this year.
Industrial officer with the communications division of the CEPU Tony Absolom said the union believes Telstra intends to provide the same service with fewer staff, thereby cutting corners.
Mr Absolom also said the union saw the move as a forewarning that Telstra, emboldened by a third term for the Howard Government, could use the outsourcing move to shift maintenance staff off awards and on to individual contracts.
Mr Tanner said Telstra planned to begin the trials in Sydney, Melbourne and possibly Brisbane in April to see which method of maintenance is the most cost effective.
The Sydney trial will involve full private contracting of installation and repairs, while the Melbourne trial will be a hybrid of contracting and in-house work.
Mr Tanner said the documents outlining the trials, known as the Total Area Service Project, covered "end to end delivery of product and services", all line installations and network maintenance in a defined geographic area.
This would involve services to residential and small business customers in the area. "Telstra's majority shareholders, the people of Australia, have a right to know what Telstra is up to," he said.
ABOUT 30 staff at the Optus Collins St call centre have been sacked in another round of job shedding at the company.
The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union said the administrative staff, many employed through an agency, were shown the door this week.