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SYDNEY - Telstra will have achieved half of its plan for 12,000 job cuts by 2010 when another 285 jobs are cut between now and February.
Telstra's field workforce and supporting roles will be reduced by around 270 while the network and technology group will see 15 engineers' jobs disappear.
First announced in November 2005, the job cuts are part of Telstra's plan to reduce its employee base by at least 6000 before July 2008.
Telstra spokesman Brent Hooley said by July 2010 there would have been 12,000 job cuts.
The company is consolidating 26 worksites into 12 nationally, in its strategy to bring next generation networks to Australia.
"This reduction in work, combined with improved workforce productivity and better supporting processes such as job dispatching systems, means we simply don't require as many people," he said.
"It means we can work smarter, do more with less."
The Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union (CEPU), which represents Telstra employees, says Telstra is moving to outsource work.
Victorian CEPU assistant secretary John Ellery told AAP the reductions were "death by a thousand cuts".
"Telstra are gradually bleeding the staff with these jobs cuts. It's a dribble here and there. Not like big headline cuts, now it's 10 or two," he said.
"The 270 or so cut is significant, it marks the next wave in the move to privatising.
"What we are seeing is the move to contracting out work. They are saying we are providing more services while cutting staff numbers."
Mr Ellery said rural and regional Australians would suffer poor service as more Telstra work was done by sub-contractors.
- AAP
