The telecoms industry is one of the most egregious examples of the need for a serious conversation about the future of work. The recent revelations in the telecommunications industry raise some important conversation points not just for captains of industry but for workers, unions, politicians and policy makers the world over.

Despite the ubiquity of telecommunications in our business and personal lives the world over, the industry continues to make tens of thousands of job cuts as telcos set their sights increasingly on automation. As competing companies scramble for an edge over their competitors, there is worryingly little discourse about the casualties of the manufactured race for efficiency. A race that is, let’s face it, designed to inflate corporate profits at the expense of those at the bottom of the pyramid.

Jobs for Locals- The Role of FE

What’s to be done when skilled employees are forcibly rejected from the workplace? What happens to the skill sets that they have spent years or even decades building and refining? Could the gig economy provide these skilled individuals with challenging work in the field they have dedicated their careers to?