Communication Workers Union

Recent events have cast doubt on Telstra’s “good faith” in EA bargaining.

In recent weeks it has come to the CEPU’s attention that a number of Telstra managers who are not union members have been monitoring members-only hook-ups, despite the CEPU issuing clear warnings against such actions. This has allowed Telstra to have access to internal CEPU discussions about directions and tactics in the current EA campaign.

The CEPU believes that this activity not only constitutes a breach of members’ privacy but is contrary to the good faith bargaining requirements of the Fair Work Act.

These oblige those bargaining to “refrain from capricious or unfair conduct that undermines freedom of association or collective bargaining”.

 It would appear that the managers involved have been disseminating the information from the CEPU hook-ups within Telstra and that this is being used to position Telstra in negotiations.

This is clearly prejudicial to the bargaining process and, in the union’s view, contrary to both the letter and the spirit of good faith negotiations. The CEPU has now written to Telstra formally giving notice of these concerns under the relevant provisions of the Fair Work Act.

For its part, Telstra has denied that its position in negotiations has in any way been determined by information about CEPU meetings passed on by its managers although, significantly, it has not denied that such actions may have occurred.

The union is formally pursuing the company on this issue. Initially we have lodged the issue with Fair Work Australia.

FAIR WAGES THE KEY TO TELSTRA EMPLOYEE RELATIONS, CUSTOMER SERVICE

Following the CEPU membership consultation survey which rejected the latest Telstra EA proposal, the union is continuing its industrial and public campaign for a fair wage increase for EA employees.

Meanwhile, the company continues to hear some home truths from both the public and its own employees about how it is travelling. NDC employees have told Executive Director, Network Construction, John Gibbs that his group’s performance is down on 6 of 7 key indicators.

In a letter to staff, Gibbs acknowledged that the result may have reflected the “prolonged negotiations on the EA [which] would have been weighing heavily on the minds of employees.”

And a poll conducted by Telstra for developing its Employment Value Proposition found that employees thought the company’s approach to Human Relations was “rubbish” and that 50% of the public “hated Telstra”.

Getting the bad news is one thing. Doing something about it is another.

With the customer service spotlight also firmly on Telstra from both the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and the Australian Communications and Media Authority, it is time Telstra CEO David Thodey put two and two together.

The long-running industrial campaign in Telstra has made it very difficult for the company to manage in many areas in a day-to-day sense despite their “Don’t mention the war” strategy. This week’s major outage of Tattersall’s outlets reflects this difficulty.

If David Thodey wants to improve both customer service and employee relations, then he needs to ensure fair and equitable wages and conditions for all who work for the company.
Now of course Telstra’s management vandals are making another 900 Telstra workers redundant in a situation where already the workers are struggling to keep up with the workload and provide proper service to customers. Not only is this bad for customers, it is disastrous for employees who stay and are expected to pick up the work with absolutely no concern by management about their employees stress levels and anxiety etc. It is also disastrous for employees who are forced on to the job market to try and keep their families going. This will no doubt make Telstra employees even angrier, as it should.

In the absence of an acceptable EA proposal, the CEPU will continue its industrial and public campaign to raise awareness of the short-comings of Telstra’s customer service, the way it misleads the public and of the way it mistreats its employees, including via its regular mass redundancy programmes.

The CEPU is in talks with Telstra, at corporate level, over its redundancy programme, as well as handling the talks which arise from the redundancy process Form As in each area.

OT & RECALL/START (SOD) & END OF DAY (EOD)
Overtime bans and recall bans continue to apply on a daily basis and includes weekends and public holidays - further notices regarding these bans and stoppages for the upcoming days have been forwarded to Telstra. These bans are legal, protected action.

As a further reminder, the ban relating to unpaid overtime continues to apply to the unpaid "log on" prior to normal start time as well as work functions outside normal paid hours.

For example members that would normally log on at 7.30 am with an "on site" start time of 8.00 am, should commence log on to start work at 8.00 am then travel to first job.

Other members in areas such as call centres, where Telstra try to force them into a ready situation prior to their start time should also apply this action. They also should be logging on at their actual start time.

END OF DAY (EOD)
No function other than actually driving home (to a maximum of 30 minutes ) past the normal paid knock-off time should be performed at the end of day. Members who would normally clear work during normal hours should continue to do so, However members should not perform any other out of hours function including the "submit" function for last ticket of work.

End of day functions that are covered by the ban on paid & unpaid O/T include: dropping off or picking up stores at depot, filling out paper work, any computer related functions including shutting it off , phone log off, etc.

Members should simply upon returning home, park the vehicle, turn it and their phone off. There is no need to notify anybody as the GPS will already know that the vehicle has been parked at its normal location.

Members simply apply the overtime ban from the time they finish driving until they log on again at their start time.

If managers try to harass you with phone calls over the SOD and EOD, either on your home phone or mobile let us know and we will take them on in Fair Work Australia over an adverse action against employees exercising their work place rights.

The overtime and recall bans are having a significant effect also, driving down productivity halting or stalling, major transformation and other projects.

OTHER ACTION
The paid & unpaid OT should also be applied to performing other functions outside the normal hours of duty such as, washing and cleaning vehicles, training, etc.

Any problems with these bans should be notified to the branch office, please contact either John Ellery 0419 823 580 or Len Cooper 0438 389 302.

WELFARE FUND
We still need to give assistance to our members who are going out on strike. Please give to the Welfare Fund to help them to keep going. They are fighting for us all.

The details of the welfare fund payment process are as follows:
Direct debit through your financial institution or EFT to: CEPU Welfare Fund. BSB: 063262 Ac No: 10454772
Cheque or money order made out to CEPU Welfare Fund and posted to: CEPU Welfare Fund, 1/139 Queensberry Street, Carlton South 3053.
Credit Card over the phone to the Branch - 03 9349 4411

There is no BPAY facility

To Apply To Claim On The Fund
If you wish to make a claim to help with any hardship being experienced, please contact JOHN ELLERY Branch Assistant Secretary, in the first instance: 0419 823 580