Telstra has announced plans to cut 2,800 jobs — around 9% of its total workforce.
The telco said the decision was due to structural changes in the business designed to “improve productivity”.
Telstra CEO Vicki Brady said it was a “very hard day” for staff. The union representing telco workers has labelled the decision “appalling”.
Telstra
Telstra was originally owned by the Federal Government, which began to transition it to a private company in the 1990s. It was fully privatised by 2011.
Telstra currently employs around 31,000 people and is Australia’s largest telco.
The company recorded a profit of $1 billion in the first half of the 2023/24 financial year.
Job cuts
On Tuesday morning, Telstra announced 2,800 jobs would be cut by the end of the year.
This includes 377 workers who are expected to be “immediately” impacted by the changes.
Telstra said it will spend between $200-250 million in redundancy packages for impacted employees.
The telco claimed the cuts would save the company $350 million within the next two years.
Telstra CEO Vicki Brady said the job losses were “absolutely necessary” to ensure the business’s future sustainability.
Most staff impacted by the initial cuts will be from ‘Telstra Enterprise’, which works to connect large corporations and governments to services at the telco.
Brady said: “I appreciate the uncertainty proposed changes like this can create for our people and we will support them… with care and transparency.”
Union response
Communications Workers Union (CWU) spokesperson James Perkins told TDA Telstra’s job cuts were a “terrible decision”.
Pointing to Telstra’s strong half-yearly profits, Perkins said: “This is not a company that’s struggling, this is the largest carrier within the nation.”
He said the CWU will meet with Telstra over the coming days, and that the union will try to reduce the number of planned job losses.
Government response
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said: “This is a very distressing day for a lot of people who have received this bad news from Telstra”.
“We need to make sure the services don’t suffer as a consequence of these changes.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton noted the broader impacts of the job cuts on “people and their families” and said they were a broader symptom of current economic pressures.
