Twenty-eight team leaders were already given their marching about six weeks ago, with remaining staff -- who install and maintain Telstra's telephony services in the Sydney metropolitan area -- notified of the need for an additional 95 retrenchments yesterday.
-Telstra has a very clear legal obligation to ensure it runs an adequate level of service to all Australians...in Sydney it is not meeting the legal standard of service," Simon Banks, spokesperson for shadow minister for communications Stephen Smith, told ZDNet Australia.
-We would like them to explain their [retrenchment] decision given that the current service levels in Sydney are inadequate."
In Sydney 10 percent of new services are not being connected and 10 percent of faults are not being repaired on time, pushing Telstra's performance below -even the very low standard" that the Government's own Besley Inquiry Report found to be reasonable, Stephen Smith said in a statement.
Furthermore, the Besley Inquiry Report found that 61 percent of Australians are not satisfied with this level of service: "So, why is Telstra retrenching the very staff who could fix the problems in its network?" Smith said.
Telstra's NSW corporate affairs manager Paul Levins, said that staff cuts come on the back of the telcos's amalgamation of two regions across Sydney into one - which requires fewer people to maintain.
-We've spent an enormous amount of money upgrading the network...it's more reliable and less labour intensive," Levins said. -Essentially we've come to the conclusion that we need 95 fewer people to manage the network across the Sydney basin."
In retaliation to the shadow minister for communications' criticism of inadequate service levels, Telstra spouted its own evidence to suggest the contrary.
The telco giant claims that the Australian Communications Authority - a national independent body that monitors telecoms services and standards - has found service levels in Sydney to be -very good".
-This quarter the ACA has found Telstra reached never before highs in customer service levels," Levins said.
Telstra said it could not specify when staff would be shown the door, nor could it confirm the process of identifying the additional 95 staff for retrenchment, but said it would look for voluntary redundancies in the first instance.
However, the Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) doesn't believe there will be enough volunteers and has concerns with the process Telstra will use to determine staff cuts considering the telco heavyweight seemed -to have been targeting award-based people" in its initial round of 28 layoffs.
-Given the practice with team leaders we're concerned the same practice will be used with field staff," CEPU spokesman Mark Brownlow told ZDNet Australia.
Of the 28 team leaders retrenched, 23 were on an award and five were covered under an Australian Workplace Agreement, Brownlow explained. -We may well be taking action on that."
CEPU officials are attending a conference in Melbourne this afternoon where potential action against Telstra is being discussed.
In other news, Commander Communications - nee PlusTel, a joint venture between Plessey and Telstra - is slashing fifteen percent of its workforce or 110 of its 900 staff.
According to the CEPU, about 30 staff will be culled from the telco's sales and marketing division and about 74 from its services area.
Whilst Commander is said to be in the process or earmarking staff for retrenchment, it is believed some staff have already been notified.
The Union expects all 110 staff will be out the door by the end of the week.
Commander has been contacted for comment.
Telstra are once again speaking from their arse.