Telstra is cutting 648 jobs from its Sensis division which runs Yellow Pages, White Pages and Trading Post.
Telstra will shed hundreds of jobs in Melbourne and Sydney. Picture: Bob Finlayson Source: The Australian
TELSTRA has sacked 648 employees - one in five staff - at its struggling Sensis business, amid fears some of the call centre jobs will be shipped offshore.
Sensis produces the Yellow Pages, White Pages and the Trading Post.
The communications giant is cutting staff in Melbourne and Sydney, in the latest Australian jobs blow.
Community and Public Sector Union national president Michael Tull said the job losses were deeply distressing.
"Sensis staff have been crushed by the scale of these cuts for a company that is part of Telstra which earlier this month posted record half year profits of $1.6 billion," he said.
"The numbers are substantial job cuts.
"They are call centre staff, back of office staff, design work for the ads and printing work."
Mr Tull said that there had been rumours of changes for weeks, but the scale of the job cuts had shocked him.
The company is blaming the rise of online searches for the decline in its print publications, that have landed on doorsteps for decades.
Staff had meetings with managers at 10am today to discuss their future.
The head managers will meet with unions at 3pm today, in a summit that was called after unions heard rumblings about the cuts.
CPSU spokeswoman Teresa Davison said the union would reserve the right to take the cuts to Fair Work Australia if Telstra acted unfairly.
"We're talking to members at the moment and we will be meeting with Sensis at 3pm," she said.
"We have been calling for weeks to discuss this; they were claiming they had not made a decision as recently as Tuesday."
Ms Davison said Telstra was making a short-sighted call.
"Like all large businesses they look at their massive profits dropping," she said.
"If a $1 billion profit drops to $900 million their response is to sack staff, even though they are still making a huge profit."
The Sensis business includes Yellow Pages, White Pages and the Trading Post.
The traditional print advertising publications have been struggling with competition from online advertising.
Sensis Australia managing director John Allan said the business model was unsustainable.
"Until now we have been operating with an outdated print-based model - this is no longer sustainable for us," he said in a statement.
"Already, more than 60 per cent of our customers now are advertising online and in mobile apps, while our White and Yellow Pages digital services received 18.4m visits in January 2013.
"We need to simplify our operation and invest in areas that make us more efficient, and meet our customers' growing demand for online and mobile services."
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the job cuts were "dreadful news".
Stephen.drill@news.com.au
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