The beleaguered telecommunications infrastructure giant has sacked 190 employees in Australia and up to 400 or 22 percent of its staff across the Asia Pacific region. Australia has so far born the brunt of the move, dubbed as a "regional restructure", as much of the company's Sydney-based support services have been transferred to Singapore.
The restructure is part of a company-wide rescue plan implemented by company CEO and former HP president Michael Capellas. WorldCom filed for chapter 11 in July this year, amid a corporate scandal which left a US$4 billion hole in the company's accounts.
A spokesperson for WorldCom attempted to distance the company from reports staff in Australia were informed of their retrenchment via voicemail and immediately escorted from the building by security guards.
"While up to 190 people may face loosing their jobs, the number may in fact be less as we are happy to negotiate if any of the support people affected were willing to move to Singapore and take up their positions there," the spokesperson said. "It is also a policy to offer people the opportunity to look for new jobs in the conference rooms using company laptops."
However, the company could not confirm how many places it would be able to offer to Australian staff in Singapore, and unable to confirm that this option was offered to those Australian employees who received their marching orders.
While some of the sackings were effective immediately, others were informed they had until February to seek alternative employment.
A spokesperson for Ozemail said the WorldCom-owned ISP would be in no way affected by the job cuts.
