TELSTRA COULD HANG UP ON 400 LOCAL STAFF

HUNDREDS of Townsville Telstra workers are facing an uncertain future after the telco giant announced it would cut 8000 jobs across the country.

Up to 400 positions in Townsville could be lost, according to analysis by the Community and Public Sector Union.

Telstra chief executive Andrew Penn announced the huge downsizing of staff as part of a “new strategy to improve customer experience, simplify structure and cut costs”.

“In the future our workforce will be a smaller, knowledge- based one with a structure and way of working that is agile enough to deal with rapid change,” he said.

Mr Penn said no specific areas had been confirmed as targets for job cuts.

A Telstra spokesman last night said the potential for 400 Townsville employees to be affected was pure speculation.

But CPSU assistant Queensland secretary Amy Smith said the union feared the new strategy would result in up to 400 job cuts in Townsville.

“Telstra isn’t an ordinary phone company.

“It’s a former public asset that is still tasked with providing essential telecommunications services,” she said.

Ms Smith said the union had been in discussions with Telstra about a new workplace agreement but news of the cuts came without warning.

Herbert MP Cathy O’Toole said Telstra was “putting money before people and their jobs”.

“To make an announcement today that they will slash 8000 jobs by 2022 after making a $ 3.5 million profit … is completely unacceptable,” she said.

Ms O’Toole said Telstra had forgotten it was a “community- based” company.

“This goes far beyond just making savings, they’re still government- owned so … surely they have a social responsibility to focus on keeping people gainfully employed,” she said.

“To come into Townsville and just say potentially we’re going to take 400 jobs, that is just outrageous.”

Meanwhile Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has urged Telstra to rethink the cuts.

“The flow- on effects that job cuts this size will have are enormous,” she said.

“While we are awaiting advice from Telstra on the number of jobs being lost in Queensland, I think it’s vitally important that Telstra rethink this plan.”

LNP Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington wrote to Telstra asking for a guarantee that no jobs would be lost in Queensland.

“There have been a number of recent service failures by Telstra impacting Queenslanders,” she said.

“In light of these service failures, reliability must be the central focus.”