Union protests job cuts at Telstra AGM Telstra has admitted it's cutting Australian jobs and moving them offshore as protesters appeal for shareholders to take notice. A handful of Telstra staff and Public Sector Union (PSU) members stood outside the company AGM at the Sydney Convention Centre entrance on Tuesday to protest against the 3157 job cuts Telstra has announced this year. The union's Teresa Davison says Telstra's use of funds from the public purse means it's responsible to taxpayers as well as shareholders. "They've got an $11 billion agreement around the NBN ... that's taxpayer dollars," she told AAP. We think Telstra does have a responsibility to the Australian community that they're not taking billions of dollars with one hand and sacking thousands of workers with the other. About half of the cut positions were destined for overseas, she said. In a statement Telstra spokesman Scott Whiffin said the "business is changing" to focus on increased productivity. "While we have proposed that parts of our operations workforce reduce by around 1100 jobs by June next year, we have made other announcements that could see close to 1000 jobs added in other areas," he said. Telstra worker John Bellingham's job is safe for now but he turned out in support of dumped and at-risk colleagues. "His job is likely to go to India," he told AAP. He was talking to me to see if there was any jobs in my section. I don't know if it's something he'd be able to slot into but I put his name forward. The union says they think shareholders are concerned about the welfare of Telstra staff. But, on his way into the meeting, shareholder Vince Smith said he wasn't fully abreast of the job cuts and was concerned about share prices. "I'm always concerned about job costs and I'm also ... hoping the share price will go up," he told AAP. I bought in at $7 and now it seems like the company is kind of struggling. The union claims at least 10,250 people work offshore on Telstra business "on any one shift."