Telstra's plan to close its Grafton Business Call Centre has been met with condemnation from unions representing telecommunications workers.
The plan has so far earned criticism from the local community and businesses, local politicians, Unions NSW, and now one of the unions representing telecommunications workers, the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has weighed in on the issue.
CPSU assistant national secretary Louise Persse said the plan to close the Grafton Business Call Centre was an outrage.
"This decision is a direct attack upon Telstra workers, their families and the services they provide to the Australian community, particularly in regional Australia,” Ms Persse said.
"Job losses of this size are very bad news for local economies. The impact on Grafton alone will be massive."
Ms Persse was also concerned by comments made by a Telstra spokesman who indicated a reason the Grafton call centre was chosen to be closed was because of its high unionisation and also that high staff turnover could benefit efficiency with younger, keener workers getting jobs.
"Both of those things in our view, those reasons for closing the centre, would constitute adverse action under the Fair Work Act and are not legal," Ms Persse said.
Ms Persse said the CPSU would be pursuing the matter with Telstra if these reasons were in fact the company's stance.
According to Ms Persse, the CPSU was encouraging its local members to get involved in influencing Telstra to reconsider its plan.
Unions NSW has also strongly criticised the plan and secretary Mark Lennon said it was at odds with Telstra’s regional-friendly image.
"It's astonishing to hear that Telstra, a company that prides itself upon its support for regional areas, is planning to close the Grafton call centre," Mr Lennon said.
"Telstra can't claim to be a friend of regional Australia whilst simultaneously slashing jobs out of regional areas.
"Unions will be rallying support not only within the community of Grafton but across the State to demand that Telstra doesn't turn its back on regional communities."
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