Embattled Optus bosses' dirty attack on workers: outrageous
Laying the blame for Optus’ ongoing - and tragic - failures at the feet of its hard-working frontline employees is utterly outrageous and a dirty attempt to shirk responsibility for the telco’s systemic failures, the Communication Workers Union says.
The statement follows reports today that the head of Optus’ parent company Singtel, Yuen Kuan Moon, Optus chairman, John Arthur, and Optus CEO, Stephen Rue, have attempted to deflect blame for Optus’ recent tragic triple zero failures onto frontline workers by describing it as ‘a people issue’.
“How Optus’ most senior bosses can stand up and openly blame frontline staff for what is clearly a systemic failure is beyond comprehension,” CWU National Secretary, Shane Murphy, said.
“The company has a responsibility to the Australian people to ensure that there are water-tight systems in place to ensure that when they need to call triple-zero, they can.”
Mr Murphy said those at the top, who are responsible for the systemic outsourcing and offshoring of our essential systems need to own it, fix it, and stop smearing the people who are doing everything they can to keep Australians safe.
“The fact that we’ve seen multiple system outages in recent weeks alone is proof that’s not the case. The company let Australians down in the most tragic way possible. That failure is unacceptable and those at the top need to own that.
“To suggest otherwise is a disgraceful attack on frontline workers who are simply attempting to do their jobs under incredibly difficult circumstances, including mass offshoring and outsourcing.
“You don’t fix a systemic failure by scapegoating the people on the frontline.
“If the system can’t carry a triple-zero call, that’s a boardroom failure, not a ‘people failure’.”
Media contacts: Alana Mew, 0419 929 722 or Catalina Casar, 0421 547 759
