Stephanie March

Updated February 17, 2012.



The Communication Workers Union is concerned more jobs will be lost as Telstra moves operations overseas.   

About 150 Telstra workers and their supporters held a rally in Melbourne to protest against jobs being lost to nations with cheaper labour costs.

Telstra is moving 255 IT jobs to India, and the union believes 90 more will go soon.   

Communication union national president, Len Cooper, says Telstra's handling of offshoring is causing great bitterness.

"The worst part of it is they are asking the workers to train the Indian workers who are going to facilitate taking their jobs," he said.

Mr Cooper wants a private members bill introduced to Federal Parliament to protect Australian jobs.   

He says the bill should penalise companies that send jobs offshore and to give tax breaks to those that do not.

"Quite clearly there is a strategy being used by all these companies to take advantage of the cheap, non-unionised labour in other countries in order to cut their wages bill and increase their bottom line," he said.   

A Telstra worker, who did not want to be named, has been with the company for 16 years and says he has been told his job will be sent offshore by June next year.   

"It's shocking you know, you have your family, your home loan, the career path you've chosen to develop - to have it taken from you is a bit of a shock," he said.

"My concern is the future as well, where does it all lead to, all these jobs going off shore? Once it starts where does it stop?"

"If the companies are just making purely economic decisions based on shareholder dividends and money then the country will have no work at all because of course we can't compete with India when someone over there is being paid a pittance," he said.   

Well at least the unions come up with a good idea, has it not?.   

glee wrote on Feb 19^th, 2012 at 7:59am:





I was just saying... EVERY BUSINESS IN THIS COUNTRY IS GOING OFF SHORE...OR HAVENT YOU NOTICED THAT EITHER??..oops sorry..

if it was up to me I think I would get all the unions to work together on this one.. not just to whimper about their own little piece of the action...

as you can see almost every business/industry has its own union now to deal with, all little empires..and dont forget as jobs go overseas.. so too do union fees.

in the last three days.. we have been told Qantas/ Bonds. Billabong. abudget airline.. Banks.

either going broke going offshore or cutting back staff..

thats all I am saying.

"Quite clearly there is a strategy being used by all these companies to take advantage of the cheap, non-unionised labour in other countries in order to cut their wages bill and increase their bottom line," he said.  Yes that's right, one only has to look at the banks.  Make huge profits- and sack how many staff?.   

cods wrote on Feb 19^th, 2012 at 8:04am:




I was under the impression that this was the purpose of
the ACTU. I really couldn't imagine the ACTU taking this
lying-down if Bob Hawke was still leading it....

I do not have the answers, but this seemingly-endless
haemorrhaging of jobs and businesses to other countries
needs to be stopped somehow.

Citing high wages isn't a valid justification, and blaming
the current govt OR the last, is just a cop-out.

Some of us have always maintained that globalisation and
free-trade were not good ideas. This is one reason why.......

Kat wrote on Feb 19^th, 2012 at 8:20am:




exactly.. the ACTU seems like a toothless tiger like the UN doesnt it?..

we are becoming a nation of blamers if we can blame someone or something else that seems to do it for us..

rofit is the only language business speaks.  There is simply no excuse to send jobs overseas if that company is making a profit.  You only need one company to do it and it gives others an excuse to do the same. 

Last I heard ANZ and Qantas both posted a profit.  Not sure about Billabong.


of course it is... and without profit their will be no growing..Qantas for instance have invested in new aircraft.. that dont need the type of maintenance  that is carried out in Aust..a lot of other business too use new techo..and therefore need fewer workers..we cant have it all ways glee..

I am still waiting to find out where all these jobs are that swan created

cods wrote on Feb 19^th, 2012 at 8:39am:

All aircraft need maintenance Cods.  Look at the issues with the cracks already showing in the new A380.  You really think Australian based Qantas workers cannot fix them but Asian based workers can? 

If new skills are needed to maintain the new aircraft then wouldn't it make more sense to retrain the staff Qantas already has?