Staff angry as Telstra job losses reach 650

By PETER GRIFFIN and MATHEW DEARNALEY

Redundancies at the restructured TelstraClear have hit 650 after a drawn out process that has angered staff.

Confirmation of 490 more layoffs came yesterday - adding to the axing of 160 jobs at TelstraSaturn in December, a couple of weeks after its $435 million merger with Clear Communications was announced.

TelstraSaturn brought around 1000 staff to the merger and Clear had about 800.

After the redundancies, the company expects to have about 1200 staff.

The latest redundancies are roughly divided between Auckland and Wellington, with a small number in Christchurch.

Job cuts have been made across the board, but the internet and cable TV divisions are believed to be hardest hit.

Those leaving the company will face job hunting in a sluggish telecommunications sector.

Telecom, TelstraClear's larger rival, has cut its workforce nearly 5 per cent over the last year and layoffs in the technology and internet sectors have been rife.

TelstraClear spokesman Quentin Bright rejected speculation that up to 200 personal grievances had been lodged by employees unhappy with how the Clear-dominated management team had handled the restructuring - and communicated with staff.

"That is absolute rubbish, it's less than a handful," Mr Bright said.

TelstraClear expected a substantial number of those facing redundancy to be re-employed in the same industry.

"With the TelstraSaturn redundancies, about 75 per cent were employed by the end of February," said Mr Bright. "People went to Telecom and several other places as well."

Most of those made redundant will leave the company by the end of next month, with some remaining on short-term contracts to work on the integration of the Clear and TelstraSaturn networks.

TelstraClear staff have no union representation, but employment lawyers yesterday expressed concern at reports that employees were told they were not entitled to redundancy unless they specifically applied for jobs with the merged company.

A manager who left before the redundancies were announced told the Herald that the company warned people whose jobs were likely to be affected by the merger that they would be deemed to have resigned if they failed to apply for new positions.

As such, they would be ineligible for a standard company redundancy package of six weeks' pay for the first year's service and two weeks' for every subsequent year.

Employment lawyer Greg Peploe said that would be unlawful, as the onus was on an employer to make a job offer.

Staff would lose entitlement to compensation only if they turned down offers of jobs on terms and conditions "overall no less favourable" than their previous employment, he said.

Mr Peploe and other lawyers confirmed being approached by individual TelstraClear staff for advice, but were unable to verify persistent rumours from sources within the company that personal grievance cases were heading to the Employment Relations Authority.

The authority and the Labour Department's associated mediation service will not comment on any cases unless mediation fails and public investigation hearings begin.

Another Auckland employment lawyer, Richard Harrison, said the company might have bought itself big trouble if it made too many people reapply for jobs which were not substantially new positions under the merged operation.

This follows a strong directive from the Employment Court in 1998, in which Chief Judge Tom Goddard condemned the Fire Service for making its 1600 career firefighters apply for 300 fewer positions under a proposed restructuring, which was ultimately stymied.

The 55,000-strong Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union is meanwhile planning a strategic review of recruitment potential in the telecommunications sector.

But it has yet to get a foot in the door at TelstraClear after concentrating in recent years on retaining members against waves of restructuring at Telecom.

* Email Peter Griffin