WEEKLY BULLETINS RESUME

We are back to normal with Bulletins. A lot has happened in the past 5 weeks. The most significant was the result in our case against Telstra. The Court upheld our claim that a member was under classified and should have been paid as a CFW5, not CFW4. We will do several reports on this in coming weeks. Thank you for your patience.

TELSTRA WIDEBAND/FIBRE CFW 4 GRADING ISSUE

John Ellery has reported the Court case below. We now have further work to do to resolve the monies owed to our member. (I am dealing with that now.) We will report more detail in future bulletins, particularly on the effect this will have on other members. We hope to place a copy of the decision on our web site shortly.

TELSTRA WIDEBAND/FIBRE CFW 4 GRADING ISSUE - 14 OCT

We won!
In a 96-page decision last Friday (11 October), Magistrate K Fawcett of the Melbourne Magistrates Court decided that one of our members in the Fibre group has been underpaid for several years at the CFW4 level, and is doing work at the CFW5 level. The court decision followed hearings in early March 2024, and given the incredible legal resources Telstra put in to squash the claim (including a well-known and experienced Kings Council (Chris O'Grady) and high-priced advising barristers and lawyers from Seyfarth Shaw), it was seen as a matter of principle (from both sides).
The T&S Branch was solely represented by T&S Secretary Dan Dwyer (who is a qualified Industrial Lawyer), plus our 2 witnesses (including our member and the Branch Asst Secretary who has long term experience in the Telstra grading system). Telstra rolled out many management and higher-level witnesses. The T&S Branch wanted to protect the CFW Job Descriptions, and Telstra wanted to downgrade the levels, claiming they were outdated.
This is a big win for the Branch, and its member, who "hung in there" during a long and testing dispute. We also must acknowledge that Telstra have the possibility of an appeal, so we wait and see what their strategy may be. Given the last line comments made by Beba Brunt in a recent communication (most of you should have seen it) following the decision to the field staff, we will see.
Despite representing the issue for many years to Telstra HR and Field services management (which should have resolved the grading at the time) there was considerable resistance because Telstra have been trying for years to downgrade the CFW levels. It has been the strategy adopted for years to reduce the levels, and require lower-level staff to do higher function work. Their
recent strategy (that the T&S Branch has called out) by trying to "modernise" the benchmark job descriptions (BJD) should be seen in that light. They have been trying to lower your grading, and they continue to do so. Hopefully this decision will slow that strategy that we continue to strongly oppose.
The use of individual performance-based contracts (AWA's) in field areas 20 years ago started the rot, then the implementation of the discredited "Job Family" grading system (particularly in Field areas) has also put us behind the eight ball. Our next task for the Union as a whole, is to campaign to remove the unfair "Job Family" blight from our Telstra employment arrangements.
The actual court decision will be uploaded onto our website for your "light" reading (yes all 96 pages!!).
Special thanks go to Branch Secretary Dan Dwyer, who ran the case in court, and spent many hours and days preparing the legal arguments, and preparing the submissions and witness statements.
Well done, Dan, it was a David and Goliath battle!
[John Ellery Assistant Secretary]

TELSTRA WIDEBAND/FIBRE CFW 4 GRADING ISSUE - CLARIFICATION

Our Divisional Branch issued a Bulletin commencing as follows:
Late last week, the Melbourne Magistrates Court delivered a judgment in a case initiated by your Union against Telstra regarding the misclassification of an employee. The court determined that the employee had been incorrectly classified at the CFW 4 level while performing duties more accurately aligned with CFW 5 responsibilities.
Our Branch was not mentioned even though we were the only entity involved in the long case.

OPTUS REDUNDANCIES OCT 24

Optus has identified 25 roles as no longer required. The roles are from the Information Technology, Networks, Customer Solutions, Enterprise & Business and Optus Finance, Optus Government and Regulatory Affairs, Optus IT and People and Culture. If you need assistance please contact us.

OPTUS SHIFT PENALTIES AND OVERTIME

We reported earlier that we have filed our claim in the Court seeking payment of shift penalties and overtime for some 12 haor shift workers. The claim is based on the requirement to work (unpaid) shift handovers. There are nominally 15 minutes.
This week we attended a directions hearing to resolve objections from Optus. Amended directions have been issued. A further directions hearing is scheduled for 19 December.

NBN EBA

There have been 2 meetings so far to discuss the EBA. The log of claims is being discussed. All discussions are at early stages. Last week I expressed our objection to the "free" Start of Day and End of Day. I pointed out that the is no such thing as an "industry practice" that overrides EBA and Award entitlements. (More next week on this.) No decisions will be made for some time. Weekly discussions are set.

TZV PROPOSED CHANGES TO CASUAL CLOTHES WEEKENDS 28 OCT UPDATE

The survey caused a large response - 84% No, 16% Yes (127 member returns overall)
Following our appearance before Fair Work Commissioner Mirabella last week, we circulated a quick-fire member survey to assist our negotiations with TZV management on Monday 28th October at 16:30pm. This meeting is scheduled in line with the suggestion from Commissioner Mirabella prior to our report back to her on Wednesday 30th October.
As of close of returns for the survey, we had a total of 127 emails returned, with 21 YES (agree with the changes), and 106 NO (don't agree with the changes). In percentage terms, 16% yes, and an overwhelming 84% opposing the changes.
A rough analysis of the returns based on apparent gender indicated 37 returns from the male staff and 90 returns from the female staff, broken down as 10/27 Yes/No (28% to 72%) for the male staff, and 11/79 Yes/No (12% to 88%) for female staff.
Clearly a majority "No" response from our female members indicates something is wrong with the proposal for changing the Casual clothes weekend exemption. There could be several reasons for this, so the reason for the majority No vote needs further analysis and to be backed up with facts.
Thank you for your input and timely response. [John Ellery Assistant Secretary]

TZV EBA VOTED UP

The results: Ballot start: 21 October 2024. Ballot close: 31 October 2024
Question: Do you approve the Operations Enterprise Agreement 2024
Total responses: 980. Yes: 864 (88.2%). No: 116 (11.8%)

TZV NEXT STEPS

TZV has advised that the agreement will be submitted to the FWC for approval. Once approved by the FWC, TZV will proceed to processing the sign-on payment of $5553 (pro rata), within the first full pay period following confirmation of the official date of operation for the new EA.
The backdated 3% pay increase (from 3 April 2024) and the translation into the new Classification Structure (calculated from 30 April 2024) will be processed within a reasonable timeframe from the date of operation.
Additional benefits are:
- 10% increase to penalty rates on weeknight shifts
New entitlements not back dated)
- Overtime paid at double time on weekends from 6pm Friday to 7am Monday
- Doubling of the Mentor allowance to $7.00 per hour
- In addition to the financial and leave benefits, the new classification structure provides a clearer and improved career progression and greater access to multi-skilling

POST EBA

The FWC has approved the Post EBA. The date of effect is 18 October 2024.