
Issue No 119		16 November 2001

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Day Three: Telstra Privatisation Begins

Just three days after the federal election, Telstra has moved to sell off one of its key business areas in a move that will cost 350 jobs and was kept secret during the campaign.

Colin Cooper, Communications Division President of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) says that Telstra would sell-off its entire PABX business to a private sector operator as part of its ongoing job shedding programme.

Cooper says the union had evidence that the sale had been underway well before the federal election although the announcement has been delayed until now.

Telstra's PABX business currently performs maintenance on dedicated switching systems used by businesses and also offers a facilities management service for large corporate customers such as QANTAS and Westpac on a contracted basis.

Cooper has slammed the sale as irrational and claimed that it would mean a further draining of skills out of the company. He says that business customers, especially those in regional centres, would be the losers from the sale.

"This is a highly specialised workforce," Cooper says, "whose skills should be retained within the corporation. As with the sale of the Commander business and the proposed sale of Network Design and Construction (NDC), this move represents a de-skilling of our national carrier."

Cooper says that the PABX skill base within Telstra had already been eroded to some degree by the massive redundancies that had occurred over the last six years. He claimed that the skills were not being replaced because of the cost of training higher level technical workers.

"This is going to be a problem for the new owners in due course too," Mr. Cooper said, "and for customers in the not too distant future. No-one wants to put the investment into training the next generation of skilled workers for this industry."

Telecoms Employment In Tail-Spin

Meanwhile, the announcement by Optus this week that it would shed another 350 jobs was a further sign of the failure of the Coalition government's telecommunications policies.

The CEPU's Mark Brownlow says he fears even more job losses could be in the pipeline, following poor performances from companies operating in the telecommunications sector.

Brownlow says that the job cuts made a mockery of the Government's assurances about employment opportunities in the sector, made repeatedly during the course of the Telstra privatisation debates.

"We were constantly told that the skilled employees shed by Telstra to please financial markets would easily find work elsewhere. Those claims look pretty hollow now."

Brownlow says that the spate of job cut announcements being made immediately after the Federal election seemed to point to a tacit agreement by the industry not to rock the boat during the election campaign.

Vodaphone Cutbacks Stalled

Meanwhile, Swift action by the CPSU in the Industrial Relations Commission today has prevented embattled telco Vodafone from issuing redundancy notices to more than a thousand staff.

In a strongly worded rebuke, Commissioner Greg Smith issued orders prohibiting redundancies and demanding Vodafone consult fully with unions before taking any redundancy action.

CPSU spokesperson, Stephen Jones, was delighted with today's decision.

"In the short term it has brought immediate relief to many anxious Vodafone workers. In the longer term it sends a strong message to employers about the importance of properly consulting staff and their unions," said Mr Jones.

The CPSU is seeking an urgent meeting with Vodafone and intends to go over any redundancy plans with "a fine-toothed comb" to save every job possible.

"If, as has been rumoured, Vodafone are looking to sell off parts of their business, we will be strenuously arguing that people be given the option of following their job to a new company," added Mr Jones.

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Issue 119 contents

Interview: Out of the Rubble
Michael Costa argues that Saturday's election result could have been much, much worse.

Unions: Sixty-Forty Are Good Odds!
John Robertson argues that while there may be many problems with the ALP, union power is not one of them.

Politics: Wrong Way, Go Back
Labor's failure in the federal election is the result of more than bad luck. It is the result of a shift to populism that has left the Party bereft of core principles.

Campaign Diary: Week Five: All Washed Up
If you can stand it, relive the fatefull final week of a most remarkable election campaign.

International: Trade Piracy Unmasked
As the trade barons met in Qatar to chart out their agenda, George Monbiot looks at the machinations behind the scenes.

Factions: The Party's Over
Chris Christodoulou renews his call for a breakdown of the factional system to bring new life into the ALP

History: The Fall-Out
Neale Towart looks back to Labor's reaction to its loss in the 1954 'Petrov election' and finds warnings for today's post mortem.

Media: Elite Defeat
Rowan Cahill looks at the intellectual paucity in the PM's ongoing attacks on 'elite opinion'.

Satire: Crean 'Listens To Australian People': Will Sink Refugee Boats
Simon Crean, the most likely candidate to replace Kim Beazley as Labor's leader, says he will take heed of the message sent to the ALP by Australian voters at the Federal Election.

» Unions Call for Border Review

» Compo Fire Reignites as Bill Hits Deck

» Workers Unite Over Corporate Power

» Day Three: Telstra Privatisation Begins

» Primus Deal Marks New Era in Telcos

» Qantas Staff Cuts Condemned

» Bank Workers Seek Proxies for AGMs

» Blokes Stand Up For The Ladies

» Landmark Community Services Win

» Anger at Sartor's Power Grab

» Consumer Boycott Call for Sugar Co-op

» Apprentices Win Parity with Uni Students

» Competition for Nurses Hots Up

» CFMEU Launches Bunny Club

» ICFTU Reveals 250 Companies in Burma

» Activists Notebook

» STOP PRESS: No Democracy at Telstra AGM