News Service from House Harris

Telstra's new IT system costing millions, says union

MELBOURNE, Nov 12 AAP - Telstra's new IT system may be costing the telcomillions of dollars in lost revenue with call centres choked by long delays and errors, a communications union says.

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) claims the three-month-old Siebel system is faulty and places intolerable pressure on call centre workersto meet performance targets.

The CPSU says a survey of hundreds of Telstra workers showed that 96 per cent believed the IT system was to blame for loss of business while 86 per cent said they were held responsible for the system's failures.

CPSU national president Louise Perrse said Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo and his managers were blaming staff for a fall in business.

"Mr Trujillo's so-called IT transformation has run over schedule and over budget and the Telstra boss has clearly introduced his system before it was ready, creating massive problems for call centre workers and their customers," she said.

Ms Perrse said that rather than take the blame for the faulty system, Mr Trujillo was punishing call centre workers for falling customer business.

"An unworkable IT system has meant that many Telstra workers are strugglingto meet their targets - targets they are forced to meet to make up their take-home pay," Ms Perrse said.

Comment was being sought from Telstra.

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