Telstra flags reorganisation, redundancies in Design and Service Delivery
The CWU met with Telstra on Thursday 23 March over the company’s plan to introduce major changes to staff levels and structures in Design and Service Delivery.
Telstra notified the CWU on 21 March of an initial decision which would see further centralisation of design and related workflow functions, accompanied by further outsourcing of “high volume, low complexity” work to “strategic partners” such as Cyient.
The move follows the earlier decision in October last year to rationalise design functions and locations. That decision led to the closure of three design sites and the loss of 53 jobs.
Fortunately, the impact of those cuts was largely mitigated by a mixture of voluntary redundancies and successful redeployment.
This new plan would mean a net loss of a further 55 jobs across Design and related Service Delivery areas (ie workflow and end-to-end order management) with the greater part of them to come from Design.
Under the plan Design would lose more than a third of its current workforce (excluding team managers), bringing the total cuts in this area to around 90 over the last six months.
The CWU will be consulting with members about the impacts of this latest decision prior to a further meeting with Telstra next week. The union will also be pressing Telstra to maximise the opportunities for redeployment for those who want it.
Affected members are encouraged to contact their state branches.
