Jobs terminated:
Telstra sacks 53 contract staff at Belmont call centre

by Kevin Watkins

Workers from the shire of Belmont and the neighbouring shire of Victoria 
Park in Western Australia are among the latest to fall victim to the 
ravages of privatisation, down sizing and contract labour outsourcing. 
Fifty-three employees from the Telstra call centre in Belmont have recently 
been sacked.

Victoria Park resident and sacked worker Jerusha Toonen said many of the 
workers had moved to the area to be close to the centre. They had purchased 
homes, enrolled their children at local schools and supported local 
retailers and small businesses.

"Most staff were employed as contractors from staffing agencies and had 
worked at the centre between six and ten months", Ms Toonen said. "Initial 
contracts for the position were based on the suggestion or idea that the 
centre was to take on the consultants as permanent employees.

"Team leaders, management trainers and the agencies themselves supported 
this notion throughout the contract period. Staff worked under the constant 
lure of permanency if they performed well."

Ms Toonen said the contractors worked for less pay than permanent staff, 
with no benefits, holiday leave or sick pay. She believed the staff were 
used and abused as a flexible and disposable workforce. The idea that there 
would be opportunities in the company was a misconception that never became 
apparent until the final slap in the face.

Federal Labor MHR for Swan, Kim Wilkie, said as staff had worked at the 
Belmont call centre for up to ten months, he questioned Telstra's 
explanation that the dismissals were the result of the telecommunication 
industry's cyclical nature.

"The 53 contract workers will not receive any holiday pay, sick pay or 
redundancy payments. This impact will not only be felt by the sacked 
workers and their families, but also small business in Victoria Park and 
Belmont."

Belmont Mayor Peter Passeri said the "incident" made the council more 
determined to attract a wide range of businesses, so residents could 
achieve permanent employment and stability in their lives.

Mayor Passeri's comments regarding the sacking of 53 workers just does not 
sit well with reality as many businesses in Belmont and Victoria Park have 
gone bankrupt and never returned.

The Mayor's comments have a very hollow ring considering they come from a 
bloke whose council tried to wrench their outside workers from their union 
by offering them a collective non-union agreement.

Meanwhile, 53 workers have joined the ranks of the unemployed, victims of a 
sacking that Mayor Passeri describes as an incident. The irony is that 
Belmont is called the city of opportunity; cold comfort to the unemployed.