Fifteen staff at Orange's TAFE colleges will lose their jobs as part of a statewide restructure, a union has claimed.
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The Community Public Sector Union of NSW says the cuts will affect a range of roles.
That includes staff who work in student enrolments, team leaders, administrators, two air conditioning and facilities officers and a building maintenance worker.
The union will be fighting these job cuts
- Stewart Little, CPSU
It is understood only library staff will be spared among the union's members.
The union said the 15 were among 50 staff at the city's three campuses who were union members.
A further 100 staff in Orange were teachers who were members of the Teachers Federation and were not affected by the cuts.
The union said 52 jobs across the Central West facing would be lost.
That includes 15 positions at Bathurst, 12 at Dubbo plus staff at Lithgow, Parkes, Forbes, Mudgee, Coonabarabran, Coonamble and Lake Cargelligo.
Union general secretary Stewart Little said they were part of 678 TAFE jobs to be cut across NSW by July.
Mr Little said more jobs in the Central West were under threat from further cuts.
He said the union had been advised of the cuts by TAFE NSW. Mr Little said 10 per cent of educational support jobs would go.
"[Premier] Gladys Berejiklian and [treasurer] Dominic Perrottet are deliberately dismantling TAFE NSW to ready it for sale," he said.
"They're helpfully trimming it down for future corporate buyers to come in and snap it up in another NSW assets fire sale. The union will be fighting these job cuts at every stage. TAFE NSW is a vital piece of infrastructure that must remain in public hands, not dismantled for private operators."
When asked in parliament about the restructure, Ms Berejiklian denied the number of job losses.
"If it was left to those opposite [the state opposition] they would not want any organisation to modernise or become more relevant," she said.
"The best advice I've received is in fact there are some positive changes happening in the organisation."
She said in some areas of TAFE and vocational education the state was "actually hiring more people."
Ms Berejiklian said the restructure would directly impact "less than 50 people ... across the state ... none of them on frontline jobs."
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