Axe to fall at Telecom: Labour

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Up to 1500 jobs to go at Telecom, according to Labour Party communications and IT spokesperson Clare Curran

By Computerworld staff | Auckland | Thursday, 21 March, 2013 | 32 Comments

Telecom is about to announce it will be shedding 1500 jobs, according to the Labour Party’s communications and IT spokesperson Clare Curran, who predicted the redundancies would cause an "economic shock" in New Zealand.

In Parliament today Curran asked Economic Development minister Steven Joyce: "Is he aware that Telecom has said it will soon announce job cuts “well into the hundreds”, with industry indications as high as 1,500, making it the largest loss of jobs from a single New Zealand company in recent decades."

Joyce replied that he didn't know how many people are likely to be made redundant from Telecom but that he is "very confident for the sector, because the information and communications technology sector is probably the sector with the highest demand that is unmet for skilled information and communications technology workers from around the country."

Curran asked if Telecom’s redundancies were "a matter for Government intervention." But Joyce appeared to dismiss this idea.

"I am not quite sure what the member would seek the Government do — ring Telecom up and stop them changing its work programme? Obviously, there is a concern when people have to lose their jobs in an economy, but the reality is that that happens every year. Roughly 250,000 jobs are created and lost every year in the New Zealand economy."

However it does appear that Joyce asked the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to provide some assistance,. When Curran asked if MBIE staff had approached Telecom offering help with recruitment agencies, he replied:

"[MBIE] has quite possibly approached Telecom, because I made an enquiry from my office, to see if there was any way it could assist to match some of the people who may not be staying at Telecom to any jobs around the country that the organisation is aware of."

At Telecom's half year results in February, Telecom chief executive Simon Moutter said Telecom would cut "hundreds" of jobs over the next 10 months, but he would not talk numbers.

Asked whether that meant jobs cuts would be limited to three figures and no more than 1000 jobs were on the line, Moutter said he was "not willing to be any more specific at this point".

Telecom employs more than 7000 workers.

A Telecom spokesperson told Computerworld earlier today that an announcement about redundancies will not be made today or tomorrow.

Comments

Unfortunate but inevitable No business can afford to carry dead wood and sadly Telecom have a forest. Their so-called engineers are about to discover that in the real world ignorance and ego are no substitute for competence.
Posted by Anonymous at 22:45:39 on March 25, 2013

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Unfortunate but inevitable Shame on you posting off the cuff vile commentaru like that.
I don't think you're actually met a Telecom or Gen-i engineer in your sad, pitiful life.
Posted by Canto Rolassi at 21:36:08 on March 26, 2013

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Unfortunate but inevitable What a twat...hey you may have run into one or two that you clashed with, you're just a bitter old man or they have showed you up in the past, the engineers I have dealt with are some of the most hard working, honest, competent people I have worked with.
Posted by Happy Client at 9:25:36 on March 26, 2013

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Job Vacancy Open at One IT We would be keen to talk to any Telecom employees that have had the axe. We are experiencing massive growth and are in need of a technician to provide some first and second level support to our growing customer base.

If anyone is keen then please send through your CV's to jobs@oneit.co.nz
Posted by One IT at 18:14:26 on March 22, 2013

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Job Vacancy Open at One IT Enginners aren't th egroup targeted with redundancies this time...so you're out of luck my dear.
Posted by Anon at 21:37:55 on March 26, 2013

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Job Vacancy Open at One IT Phew! well that will take care of that employee. Now, for the other 1499....
Posted by Anonymous at 10:19:50 on March 25, 2013

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i was made redundant. I was made redundant by gen-i a few months back. At the time it was difficult and took a few months, however I've landed another job in IT at a similar level of remuneration, and now I'm feeling lucky that I was made redundant when i was as I wasn't competing with a few hundred similar types all hitting the market simultaneously. I hope that Simon M decides to follow a sinking lid policy with a lots of smaller compulsory redundancies rather than flooding the market with one big bang, which will have a very adverse impact on the people made redundant. I suspect that things are so desperate that it'll be big bang a month or two ahead of the beginning of each financial year, however the following Maori probverb should be balanced against the feeling of urgency.

He aha te mea nui o te ao?
He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!
Posted by Ex gen-i at 12:28:38 on March 22, 2013

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Bit Slow Im surprised it has taken you this long to publish this.. the hammer has been falling for a couple of weeks now . . .
Posted by Anonymous at 10:24:46 on March 22, 2013

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Bit Slow It's actually been going on since mid last year.....
Posted by Anonymous at 10:36:17 on March 22, 2013

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Gen-I Gen-I is going to get axed. Look at where Tim Miles has come from and the fact that he hasn't been anywhere for more than two years, usually just one year.

As for Joyce, he's a complete muppet. 1,500 specialist IT jobs in Auckland? We'll lose hundreds of skilled IT workers to Australia.

Posted by Anonymous at 8:09:39 on March 22, 2013

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