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UNI's Australian affiliate, the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), strongly condemned Telstra’s latest round of job cuts – this time up to 250 job losses in its Credit Management call centres in Geelong (150) and Perth (100).

“This decision is a direct attack on Telstra workers, their families and the services they provide to the Australian community,” said CPSU National President, Louise Persse. Job losses of this size are very bad news for local economies and diminish, yet again, Telstra's engagement with regional Australia,” she said.

“Telstra is conveniently claiming that ‘the number of permanent employees in Credit Management will not change’ because people losing their jobs in Geelong or Perth can move to Melbourne or Brisbane to do the same work instead. But while some in Geelong may be able to take up work in Melbourne, most will not be able to do so due to family and other commitments. And no-one in Perth is likely to move thousands of kilometres to do the exact same job in another state,” said Ms Persse.

“Telstra is also cowering behind its use of the term ‘permanent employees’ and failing to mention that those doing the same work but employed through agencies have been terminated as of Friday. These closures are coming not long after Telstra Credit Management work has been offshored to the Philippines through American Labour Hire firm TeleTech, sparking serious concern about future job security and the security of customers’ personal information. This is yet another example of the total disregard Telstra has for its staff and customers. It may be easy for someone like Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo, who earned $13 million last year, to move from America to Australia, but it’s not so easy for people on low wages to move from Perth to Brisbane,” said Ms Persse.

CPSU is currently talking to its members in Perth and Geelong about their options following Telstra’s closure announcement.