No immediate threat to jobs, says Optus - News - Business

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No immediate threat to jobs, says Optus

By Ben Packham, AAP
December 19, 2003
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/No-immediate-threat-to-jobs-says-Optus/0,139023166,120282076,00.htm

Optus today assured its Australian workers their jobs were not under immediate threat following claims its call centres would be moved offshore.

But the Singapore-owned telco failed to rule out future job losses as it restructured its local operations.

Reports today suggested 2,500 jobs were at risk under plans to move call centres to Malaysia.

But the company said the reports were based on an "internal options paper" on future business strategies.

Optus chief operating officer Paul O'Sullivan said the company was always looking at outsourcing and further automating call centre activities in a bid to cut costs.

But he said Australian call centres would be required for more complex tasks and it was "crazy" to suggest that 2,500 jobs would be lost.

"It is absolutely the case that the mix of those activities will change and we will absolutely look to do the lower value stuff in as cheap as possible a way," he told AAP.

"But it is also important to say that whatever we do, we will still have a very large onshore call centre base. I don't see us getting away from that."

O'Sullivan said if there were any job losses, he would expect the majority of staff would be redeployed, as had occurred in the past. He added the company had doubled its workforce over the last five years, and expected to do so again over the next five to 10 years.

But the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union's (CEPU) telecommunications division said it was still concerned about potential job losses.

"We would like it to be clarified that they are going to stay committed to their Australian workforce and not outsource any of their work currently done in Australia," CEPU national secretary Colin Cooper said.

The ACTU said it would be disgraceful if the telco moved call centres offshore.

But it welcomed a commitment by the company to consult with unions before making any changes to its operations.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow said talks with the company had been scheduled for early in the new year to discuss its plans and options. "The ACTU and unions will continue to work to convince companies that outsourcing is bad business for workers and their families and short-sighted in terms of developing sustainable enterprises into the future," Burrow said.

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