200 Telecom workers to made redundant: EPMU

Telecom lines engineers protesting outside the corporate headquarters in Auckland recently. Photo / Martin Sykes

Up to 200 Telecom lines engineers will be made redundant tomorrow, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) says.

The EPMU said the redundancies came as Telecom's new contractor Visionstream attempted to take over operations in Northland and most of Auckland.

Up to 400 EPMU members have refused to sign contracts with Visionstream as they object to becoming owner/operators rather than employees.

EPMU national industry organiser Joe Gallagher said the takeover marked a significant change in the way the Telecom network was maintained.

"Tomorrow hundreds of waged workers are handing in their tools and walking away from jobs they've held for years, and from Monday the network will be in the hands of an understaffed company contracting workers desperate to keep their heads above water."

Mr Gallagher said the union believed Visionstream was well short of recruiting the numbers of workers needed and this was likely to see serious network problems develop in the near future.

Telecom and Visionstream needed to talk to the union about negotiating a fair outcome before it was too late, he said.

- NZPA