CWU OFFICE CHRISTMAS BREAK CLOSURE

The CWU Office will be closed over the Christmas period from 12.00pm Friday 20th December to 8.00am Thursday January 2nd.
Our Union Officials can be contacted over this time if assistance is required.
Dan Dwyer 0428 942 878 ddwyer@cwu.asn.au
John Ellery 0419 823 580 jellery@cwu.asn.au
Ken Hardisty 0461 468 466 khardisty@cwu.asn.au

NBN SHEQSY TRACKING IS VOLUNTARY ONLY

Last week we reported that we were concerned with the tracking facility associated with SHEQSY. We wrote to NBN with our concerns. We pointed out the possibility of managers and team leaders committing criminal offences by having the facility to track you personally, without your consent. NBN responded as follows:

We (NBN) want to confirm that this device is not mandatory for employees to sign into or use. (NBN emphasis)

Therefore we advise members that you can refuse to install the software or activate any device. The full email from NBN follows.

NBN SHEQSY TRACKING FULL RESPONSE

Subject: RE: [External] URGENT - Surveillance Dispute SHEQSY [Commercial - Anyone]
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 2024 22:46:33 +0000
Please see below additional information regarding the Duress Alarm / SHEQSY.
We want to confirm that this device is not mandatory for employees to sign into or use. However, we would like all employees to carry them as it will still work as a Duress Alarm in the event of a safety situation. The alarm has been implemented for the safety of employees from members of the public or customers.
Employees have received communications regarding details of the device, its application, and implementation over several months, including multiple trials. Currently, 460 of 746 employees have been onboarded in Sheqsy (approximately 62%). Of the 460, 375 have used the Duress Alarm (50% of total employees).
We wanted to reiterate that only the SERC (Security) team and the Region Safety Quality Leads (RSQLs) have admin-level rights to the Sheqsy App, which means they could see location data if they went into the App and searched for it. It has been reinforced on multiple occasions that this information is only to be used when the Duress Alarm has been activated. Field Areas Managers (the technician's one-up manager) are only alerted to a technician's location when the Duress Alarm is activated, and the SERC team engages the manager.
We have restated this to employees and will be distributing updated communications later this week that reconfirm the personal safety benefits of using the device as well as continuing to address the privacy concerns about technician's being "tracked" by their one-up.
We continue to seek and respond to feedback from employees. If you or your members have further specific concerns, we are happy to assist.

NBN SOD EOD COURT FILING

This week we filed an application in the Industrial Court of NSW alleging that NBN must pay overtime for any time worked before and after your scheduled starting and finishing time. Put simply, we say that the 30 minute start of day (SOD) time and 30 minute end of day (EOD) time, if worked, must be paid at overtime rates.
The claim is made on behalf of our T&S members. Should we be successful, we can claim backpay for up to 6 years, and interest. However we would need to review your old and new contracts to determine those claims. More in future bulletins.

NOKIA MONTHLY PAY COURT FILING

This week we filed an application in the Industrial Court of NSW alleging that Nokia is breaching the Award, and for some, the old Optus EBA (applying as a result of a transfer of business.) The allegation arises from their decision to implement monthly pay cycles, replacing fortnightly pay cycles. Should the Court find that a breach is occurring, then Nokia face penalties under the Fair Work Act. The matter is likely to be the subject of a Court conference in early January 2025.

NBN EBA NEGOTIATIONS - REPORT

At our bargaining meeting on December 5th, NBN responded to the following bargaining claims:
1. Storage Allowance: The Union has requested a $50 per week allowance for storing NBN equipment and materials.
NBN claimed that employees are not required to store any equipment or materials at home, as suitable storage facilities have been provided by the company. Despite feedback from bargaining representatives that employees do, in fact, store equipment and materials, NBN has rejected this claim, citing the clear productivity savings from traveling directly from the storage facility to the job site.
2. Workplace Responsibility Allowance: The Union is claiming a $50 per week allowance for roles such as first aid officer, health and safety representative, emergency warden, harassment contact officer, and mental health contact officer. The Union believes these added responsibilities, some of which are unpaid and performed outside normal duties, should be compensated.
NBN has rejected this claim.
3. Log On and Travel Arrangements: The Union and bargaining reps have lodged a claim that travel to the first job of the day and home from the last job of the day should be recognized as paid work time, either occurring during ordinary time or paid at the appropriate overtime rate.
NBN has rejected this claim, relying on clauses within the current agreement. The Union and bargaining reps have rejected this response.
4. On-Call Arrangements: Our claim was to increase the on-call payment to 30% of the base rate and set a minimum call-out time of 2 hours where no travel is required, and 4 hours where travel is required, with the on-call allowance continuing to be paid when performing on-call work.
Despite employees sacrificing precious time with their families and friends to be on call, and the disruptive hours employees can be called out, NBN has rejected this claim.
5. Shift Penalties: We have lodged a claim for an increase in shift penalties, believing that the current penalties are not suitable compensation for the unsociable hours employees are expected to work.
NBN has rejected this claim.
6. Personal/Carers and Annual Leave: We do not believe that current entitlements to personal/carers and annual leave are suitable. Currently, NBN pays less than other public sector agencies and government business enterprises. We do not believe that NBN has the right to treat its employees any differently.
NBN has rejected this claim.
Throughout the bargaining process, NBN has consistently rejected most of the claims put forward by your Union, claiming that any increase in conditions would impact their ability to offer what they believe is a suitable pay increase. We requested that NBN present their proposed pay offer at our next meeting. Bargaining is set to recommence on Jan 9.

TELSTRA DRIVER SAFETY REALLY?

Members have reacted angrily to the driver safety policy issued about 2 weeks ago. Here some comments:
A couple of points regarding speed, the data that management has regarding speed zones has been found to be incorrect on many occasions.
The GPS unit in the 3YO Ford ranger I drive has not been checked or calibrated.
Management's tone when we were notified of the policy clearly indicated their intent to weaponize vehicle safety.
I will be asked to somehow disprove my guilt should an alleged incident arise.
Like many people in regional areas, I do many tens of thousands of kilometres every year for these ungrateful characters, travelling past speed cameras and highway patrol officers every day. If I was an unsafe driver, how would I still have a licence.

TELSTRA E000 OUTAGE MARCH 2024 SOME EXTRACTS FROM TELSTRA STATEMENT

You may remember that earlier in the year, there was a disruption to our Triple Zero services, which resulted in critical delays in getting calls through to emergency services. ACMA has now completed its investigation, and Telstra has been fined $3,004,800 for our failures on March 1, a penalty we accept and have paid in full.
We all know the Australian community relies on Triple Zero in their times of greatest need. We weren't there in the way we should have been that day, and tragically, someone lost their life. All Australians need to be able to trust Triple Zero, and it is our responsibility to ensure issues do not impact this service by having strong backup processes in place that are thoroughly tested and ready should problems arise.
It's also important we are accountable and transparent, so we learn and can adapt where we need to. We've undertaken a detailed review to understand what went wrong and have made improvements to our procedures and systems the full details of those are here.
When you run a complex telco business, from time to time things will go wrong. So how we show up, be accountable, take action and learn from our mistakes is also critical. Lastly, I want to express my deep appreciation for our Triple Zero team and the incredible work they do every day. It's a tough job, but a critical one, and I know I speak for everyone at Telstra when I say how grateful we are for your unwavering dedication. [Telstra]

Backup process issue: For all 24 state emergency operators, we store a backup phone number in a secondary database that can be used for manual transfer should it be needed. For eight of the 24 numbers the stored number was not correct, which prevented our team from making the manual transfer of the call to the respective emergency services operator. [Vicki Brady]

TZV OPS EBA

The Fair Work Commission has questioned several matters in the EBA and the parties have already responded. The complexities are technical but significant. The areas are the consultation clauses, and the trainee CT salary. It is hoped that the detailed responses will satisfy the concerns of the FWC and that it will be approved shortly.

TZV EBA SUPPORT SURVEY

Support staff have been asked to respond to a survey and management "want to hear directly from you about what matters most when it comes to your employment experience." We do not object to the survey, but we fear that management will misinterpret the responses.
We also need to know what you see as important as we will commence negotiations early in the new year. You can tell us now by return email if you wish. We will be asking you early in January for feedback.