Communication Workers Union

Telstra’s managers are rushing around doing all they can to end the industrial dispute at present, on their terms.  Reports from members indicate that managers are telling lies about the loss of the redundancy agreement if we don’t sign up now, telling lies about the legal status of the industrial action, and declaring that Telstra will “never, ever” make a better offer.

Telstra’s managers are desperate to end the dispute because it is hurting them.  It is hurting productivity, it is hurting customer relations, it is hurting the day-to-day management of the business and it is hurting employee/manager relations.

Who’s fault is it that there is a dispute and that it has run on for so long?

*         It was Telstra management that walked out of the talks and refused to negotiate for 12 months through 2008/9.

*         It was Telstra management that used the 12 months to try to get all EBA based employees on to non-union, non-negotiated contracts (ECAs).

*         It was Telstra management's own secret "leaked'" report that exposed that this was their plan all along if they couldn't get the union to agree to their Part A/Part B, two classes of worker type EBA.

*         It was Telstra management who determined that anyone who refused or rejected their non union contracts (ECAs) would receive less money than those who accepted their ECAs.

*         It is the Telstra management that embarked on a long term programme years ago to try to  de-unionise the work force through AWAs, contracting out (including off shoring) and ITEAs amongst other things. To pay less for employees on union agreements than those on non union agreements is very consistent with managements' long term de-unionisation project.

*         Why do they want to de unionise the company? To make it easier to reduce your pay and conditions and get to where they want to be, and that is to get an Optus-style poor quality low pay agreement and perhaps even worse in the future.

*         It is the Telstra management that decided it would give EBA employees no credit for the "belt tightening” they agreed to in the 2005/2008 EBA, when employees decided to accept what became a real wage cut with a 2.5% pay increase each year when the cost of living increases were higher. No-one else in the company made such a sacrifice in that period and in fact the pay increases for the management decision makers bordered on the obscene.

*         These management decisions and this management behaviour, has cost and is costing each Telstra EBA based employee thousands of dollars in wages and on- costs. This from one of the most profitable companies year after year in Australia (eg last year over 4 billion profit).

*         Telstra management is currently blathering on about productivity in Australia and telling the community that Australia is not doing well enough in that regard and yet year after year Telstra employees are producing "through-the-roof'" productivity increases and management continue to deny them any real gains for their effort. 

So who has produced this human resources/industrial relations mess in Telstra? Not the CEPU Members and other employees on the EBA, yet they are the ones being punished

Clearly this is not just about the money alone. This is about the principle of deliberately paying less to employees on a union-negotiated agreement than those on a non-union contract. This is about blatant discrimination, a discrimination that could last well into the future, to be used by management to continue to pursue their ideology of de-unionisation, with all the consequences of that for employee rights and conditions.

At all key stages of the dispute, it has been the CEPU that has advanced solutions to enable the dispute to get past key obstacles

It is Telstra, one of the most profitable businesses in Australia that is holding out.  Why should telstra’s EBA employees be discriminated against in the wage levels, simply because they are part of a union negotiated EBA?

It is Telstra management that needs to take a serious look at itself.

The CEO says he wants to turn the company around in customer service, performance and public relations; well you won’t do it without the full support of the EBA employees David.  That is a fact of life.

OT & RECALL/START & END OF DAY ACTION CONTINUES
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
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.

OTHER ACTION

The paid & unpaid OT/Recall 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.

For any queries, please contact either John Ellery 0419 823 580 or Len Cooper 0438 389 302