UPDATED: Labor senator slams Telstra job cuts

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.

The cuts, over the next three years, are part of Telstra's $1 billion plan to reverse its falling financial performance.

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 said.

Joyce 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, he 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 said.

Senior Telstra executives, including chief executive David Thodey, have confirmed the plans will involve job cuts, but the telco claims it ahs yet to be determine how many.

"Telstra has not confirmed the number of affected employees and when we do, we will first speak directly to them," a spokesperson said.

Improving customer satisfaction would be done through simplifying customer processes, reducing bureaucracy, particularly in management, and introducing optional self-service systems online, Telstra said.

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) is seeking more information from Telstra about the extent of planned job cuts. "You can not cut thousands of jobs without having a major impact on customer service," CPSU Assistant National Secretary Louise Persse said.

"Telstra's frontline service delivery areas are already stretched.

"We can't see how further cuts will improve things."

Telstra told investors it would incur $220 million in redundancy costs in the 2010/11 financial year.

"It is always difficult to make decisions that inevitably affect jobs," the Telstra spokesperson said.

"However, Telstra offers retraining and generous redundancy arrangements to affected employees."

Telstra has cut more than 12,000 jobs since 2005 as part of a transformation process implemented by former chief executive Sol Trujillo.

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