SYDNEY - Telecommunications firm Optus is set to announce a significant number of cuts to its workforce, a union says.
The Singapore Telecommunications Ltd-owned Optus informed the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union yesterday of the planned cuts, assistant national secretary Bert Blackburn said.
"They're going to be talking
to the staff today, and they're saying to us ... a significant number of employees will be going."
The majority of cuts will affect middle and senior management roles in Sydney, plus a handful of positions in Brisbane and Melbourne, he said.
"Most will finish up about November 2008, so we're pretty unhappy about that.
"Even if not all of them are our members it's not a good time to be put out on the grass."
Blackburn said Optus had informed the union the number of job cuts would be less than the 400 reported by Fairfax newspapers.
An Optus spokeswoman yesterday said the report was speculative.
Optus, Australia's second biggest telecommunications firm, employs more than 10,000 people.
It's major rival, Telstra, announced last month it was slashing 800 senior management, middle management and professional services jobs, mainly at offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
- AAP
