A spokesperson for the wholly-owned subsidiary of Telstra, however, has conceded a second round of layoffs is looming as it progresses with the integration of its business back into the national carrier.
It was announced on June 4 that the full integration of Telstra Enterprise Services (TES) back into Telstra would be completed by the end of the year. The project is occurring over three phases, with phase two just about to commence. It is estimated that the second phase of the integration will be completed some time around mid-August.
A TES spokesperson has confirmed that about twenty redundancies have so far occurred during the current first phase of the integration, but said it is still unknown how many staff will be culled in the next round.
-It impresses me when they [Union officials] come up with a number when there isn't one," Telstra spokesperson Anton Jones told ZDNet Australia.
The Communications and Public Sector Union (CPSU) claimed that up to 70 jobs may be culled from corporate areas, including legal, accounts, finance, marketing and human resources divisions, between late July and mid-August, following meetings it had with TES late last week.
-They take out of it the most sensationalist aspect they can," Jones said of last week's meeting with the CPSU.
Jones said under Telstra's commitment to the Workplace Relations Act, it had notified the Union earlier by letter that up to 70 positions could be impacted by the integration, but he stressed that final numbers had not been decided.
Jones said the first phase of the project had seen redundancies where there was the obvious duplication of jobs. The second round of redundancies, he said, would require more detailed analysis. The process would be competitive, Jones said, with staff applying for jobs back at Telstra and being selected on the basis of their merits. -Fundamentally ensuring [workers] have the capability to do the job," he added.
CPSU national organiser, communications sector, Gail Drummond, said last week's meeting with TES had confirmed that TES workers who had originally been employees of Telstra would be able to take their years of service with them, if they were re-employed by the telco giant. Asked if Telstra heritage workers would be given their full entitlements, Drummond said: -allegedly yes".
Of the upcoming job cuts, Drummond said: -I don't think they [TES] know what they're doing yet. I think the mothership (Telstra) is kicking them around a bit."
-We're trying to give them more time to get their acts together," Drummond said, adding that the Union was looking to line up further meetings with the telco heavyweight.
A number of the TES staff being acquired by Teltsra include all the Staff the NAB 'outsourced' to TES during 2001. If any of these staff were deemed redundant, the NAB rather that Telstra would pay the redundancy. From a Telstra perspective, wouldn't be convenient to make people redundant, and have a different company pay for it.