Telstra to shred 326 jobs, Outsource some to the Philippines

Telstra is axing 326 jobs, including 109 roles in Melbourne and 94 from its dedicated moves centre in Perth, which will shut down. (businessinsider.com)

The company has confirmed the losses, and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) says Telstra told it two days ago that the Perth office will close and the jobs will be transferred to Bathurst and the Philippines. A Telstra spokesperson said they constantly review the way they work to simplify our business.

“We have talked to our people about a proposal to make changes to our Contact Centre and Telstra Business teams that will see a total of 326 roles impacted nationally. It impacts roles across our sales, service and national office teams,” they said.

“Some of these proposed changes increase slightly the amount of work done by our partners overseas, as we consolidate some work types across our operations in Australia and the Philippines.”

The union said it condemned a move, which cuts hundreds of job from Telstra’s Global Contact Centre (GCC) operations in favour of offshore workers. The CWU says 109 jobs will be lost in Melbourne’s 717 Bourke Street call centre, although the company says the redundant staff can apply for 10 new jobs being created.
Telstra has also notified the CWU that it is changing Telstra Business, leading to the loss of at least 83 jobs.

There are no further details, but the union says the job cuts appear to stem from a restructure involving centralisation of sales and technical support roles in the Premium Services Group and consolidation in sales and service. The union says work will also go from centres in Brisbane and Adelaide, with the roles transferred to “industry partners” Teletech Lipa and Teletech Cebu in the Philippines, but there will be no job losses with existing staff reallocated to different work.

Telstra said it will support its employees through the changes.“We absolutely understand the impact announcements like this can have on our staff,” the spokesperson said.