Telstra cancels Christmas for hundreds of sacked employees
 Stephen Conroy |
Media Statement - 22nd November 2005
Media reports today that Telstra is preparing to sack hundreds of
administrative staff in the Sydney area in pursuit of the Howard
Government's extreme privatisation agenda will mean a dour Christmas
for the affected families.
The fact that Telstra could describe these job cuts as 'people savings'
is a sickening example of the industrial extremism being promoted by
the Howard Government.
John Howard should come clean and admit that he knew about Telstra's
plan to sack 12,000 workers as part of his extreme privatisation
agenda, that's why he rushed the Telstra sale bill through Parliament
last month.
To John Howard, sacking these workers in the lead up to Christmas would
be a small price to pay to boost the Telstra share price by just a few
lousy cents.
While it might be good news for Telstra's privatisation plans to start
sacking employees as soon as possible, these planned job cuts will not
bring good holiday tidings for Telstra employees.
What does John Howard have to say to the families of these Telstra workers who will be facing a very uncertain holiday season?
As well as being some of the first workers sacrificed in pursuit of the
Government's extreme privatisation agenda, these workers will be
amongst the first to feel the sharp end of John Howard's war on working
families.
They will not be the last.
