OF 200 North Coast TAFE administration staff who will lose their jobs, about 20 will come from the Great Lakes and Taree area, a former TAFE employee said.
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The NSW Public Service Association (PSA) said on Wednesday 200 staff would lose their jobs by December in a TAFE restructure that would open call centres at Kingscliff and Port Macquarie.
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The employee who spoke to the Great Lakes Advocate had worked in the area for more than 20 years and was made redundant about 12 months ago.
They said they had seen the cuts coming since last year.
“I’m not sure how many would go in the Taree-Great Lakes area, but there would have to be more than 20 long term-temporary positions lost,” they said.
“We knew about this change for a while. There was a lot of modelling over two years to come up with a better system.
“TAFE had relied on these people for a long time and some were putting in heavy hours.”
The former employee said a lot of the people who will lose their jobs had more than 20 years service.
“The institution will say there are jobs here for everybody, but they will have to move if they want it,” the employee said.
"I think the service would become less personalised.
“The admin and campus staff had a good relationship with their customers.
“A lot of people from Great Lakes were walk ins. They wouldn’t ring, they wanted to speak to someone in person.
“To me it’s a down grade.”
The PSA said staff were told their jobs had been 'deleted' during a video conference with North Coast TAFE director Elizabeth McGregor.
The PSA also said the few remaining staff would have to take pay cuts to keep their job.
However, member for Myall Lakes Stephen Bromhead said the PSA was misleading the public and jobs were getting created, not taken away.
