CWU takes anti-offshoring message to Canberra
The CWU has been seeking support from federal parliamentarians for its campaign against the offshoring of jobs from the telecommunications sector.
CWU representatives recently took the union’s message to Canberra where they met with representatives of all the major parties and with members of the cross-bench.
While we are concerned about the loss of any and all Australian jobs through offshoring, our discussions in Canberra focussed largely on the offshoring of high tech jobs such as those from Telstra’s Global Operations Centre (GOC) and from its growing Enterprises and Services business.
The transfer of this work overseas raises issues about both network and data security, including the security of private customer information. It also threatens to deskill our local workforce in an area critical to modern economies.
The CWU believes that there is considerable concern in the parliament about these trends and is optimistic that it will be able to get support for a private member’s bill aimed at erecting barriers to offshoring.
These might include unfavourable tax treatment for companies who offshore and/or tighter privacy laws governing the transfer of data overseas.
The next step will be to meet with other unions also affected by offshoring to see whether there is a basis for a joint campaign around these issues.
