Telstra worker vows to fight for his job

ADAM Membrey won't be leaving his job at the Telstra call centre in Gillies Street without a fight.Yesterday the plucky 31-year-old from Ararat said his performance had been strong in the position he'd held since September."Their statement was that it (the lay-offs) would be based on performance so I'll be questioning it," he said yesterday."I'll be asking for a formal meeting. I won't go out without kicking up a stink."Mr Membrey was the only staff member out of dozens who both lost and kept their jobs to respond to calls to speak with The Courier.Telstra said 80 "temporary" positions would be lost, but declined jobs would be relocated overseas.Mr Membrey said he was told his job was going offshore."They didn't say where ... probably Manila."Mr Membrey said he had job searched for four months before beginning work with the company, Dorothy Farmer Personnel, which contracts staff to Telstra.He said he was employed doing administration and "back of house" duties, with the call centre organising phone and internet service transfers."I was desperate for a job," he said."I come down from Ararat. That costs me $120 a week in petrol."I was told there was a restructure, it was part of their 'breathe in, breathe out' policy for Telstra."As far as I can understand this is where they reassess the task and if there's not a high enough demand for the task or there's not a huge backlog, then they ship it offshore or to another partner."Mr Membrey called the sackings "pretty poor"."It's the nature of the workforce now. It's the way business goes these days. There's not a lot you can do."He said his colleagues were shocked by the sudden nature of the job losses."There was no real notice that anything was going to happen," he said.Mr Membrey said he had 10 years' experience working in IT, five years of call centre work."I've done everything from manual labour up to supervisory positions," he said.