Labor senator slams Telstra


A Labor senator has slammed Telstra's reported plan to slash 6000 jobs, saying the telco giant and other big companies owe it to the government to keep people in work.

Telstra will reduce staff numbers by about 15 per cent over three years to lift its earnings performance, The Australian Financial Review said on Thursday.

Thousands more positions will be removed by natural attrition.

Senator Doug Cameron, a former trade union official, is not impressed with the plan.

"I don't think companies, given the state of the economy, should be looking at downsizing or cutting jobs," he told reporters in Canberra.

Labor's management of the economy during the global financial crisis had kept people in jobs.

"There should be reciprocal obligations from companies in this country to try to keep workers in as long as possible."

Nationals frontbencher Barnaby Joyce is concerned the job cuts will come from the bush.

"With the loss of more staff (we'll) lose the capacity to deliver services," he told reporters.

He said the telco was already operating with "skeleton" staff in some areas.

The cuts could have serious implications for the rollout of the National Broadband Network because 25,000 technicians would be needed, Senator Joyce said.

"At best I'd say there are 8000 to 6000 ... in Australia, and at this point in time Telstra are actually putting them off.

"So who is going to build this? Where do these people live?"

Nationals senator John Williams agreed the cuts would lead to a further loss of services in the bush.

"You cannot provide services without manpower," he told reporters.

You start up a business in opposition called the NBN then get upset when Telstra attempts to make its self more competitive.

Bugger-all to do with being 'competitive', this is motivated by sheer greed.

Sheer greed on whose part?
The Telstra shareholders are all crying into their beer, if they can afford it.
It would be interesting to know, where Mr.Cameron invests his money; most likely in banks.
Although being a shareholder of Telstra I,am not for big job-cuts, but if the company goes bust, there will not be any jobs for anyone.
The govenment expects Telstra to act as a social service, but no private company can do that for too long,except governments who can always slug tax-payers.
Why doesn't the government provide banking as competition to the four-pillar monopoly; it takes less skill than ever changing tele-technology, and the banks pay very big dividends.