WEEKLY BULLETINS

We will be back to our usual weekly bulletins now. Workload and holidays have caused the delay.

YOUR BRANCH AT WORK

The last few weeks have been particularly busy as we dealt with many matters. TZV is a very active area. We have issues in NBN, Aus Post and some smaller companies. We have settled the Nokia matter following a vote. We have just completed a case in the FWC involving bullying in NBN. We still have open matters in Optus and NBN. Ahead we have the usual large number of individual numbers. We are commencing a claim to upgrade some CFW4 and CFW5 members in Telstra. And we have an EBA to negotiate in TZV. Several formal disputes exist in TZV.

TZV WIN APPEAL - MENTORING ALLOWANCE

The Federal Court has handed down its decision upholding the appeal by TZV. At first instance we had won a claim that Trainers are entitled to the mentoring allowance. The EBA said: A Mentor Allowance shall be paid to all ESTA accredited Mentors while they are performing their mentoring duties.
In a complex decision the Court found that the Magistrate at first instance had erred and the Court overturned the Magistrates decision. The Decision can be found on out TZV web page.

FEDERAL COURT DECISION -EXTRACT

The following is an extract from the decision. See the Decision
It is also relevant to record, as appellant submits, that the first and second respondents observations as to the distinction between an allowance and a wage in the industrial context supports, rather than undermines, the appellant's position. As the first and second respondents observe, a wage for a position is generally intended to provide compensation for skills and knowledge inherent in the role, whereas an allowance is a payment in compensation for some additional skill, knowledge, or hardship. I accept the appellant's submission that this is precisely why Workplace Trainers have not been paid, and are not required to be paid, the Mentor Allowance for their mentoring duties.

WIDEBAND SOD EOD NEW POLICY

We are still receiving reports that Telstra has tried to implement a new policy whereby wideband staff must now adopt the start of Day and End of Day provisions in the EBA. SOD and EOD was designed for staff who attended different customer premises each day (on the box), and did not apply to wideband staff. However, we are seeing some creative views by management. We need to check this particularly the variations being suggested. We welcome any input.

TELSTRA PURPLE REDUNDANCIES

Telstra has advised off a proposal for redundancies. Should this proposal proceed, it would result in a net reduction of 28 roles, taking into account new roles that have been created. The roles are split between Telstra Purple Pty Ltd (18) and Telstra Limited (10). If any member has a problem, please contact us.

OPTUS REDUNDANCIES

Optus has also advised of redundancies. Overall, there are 99 roles affected which span across New South Wales (48), South Australia (21), Victoria (17), Queensland (8), the Australian Capital Territory (4). If any member has a problem, please contact us.

NO NUKES FOR THE LATROBE VALLEY

Story from the Sentinel Times Gippsland
'NO NUKES for the Valley' is the declaration on the side of a trailer being driven across the Monash electorate in an effort to raise awareness about the negative impacts of nuclear energy.
Loy Yang power station is coal fired but has been proposed as one of seven sites on which to build a nuclear power station in a proposal made by the Coalition, if elected.
John Ellery and Ken Hardisty from the Communications Workers Union are the pair towing the trailer, which also features Mr Burns - an evil nuclear power plant owner from The Simpsons cartoon.
Yesterday the pair drove through Wonthaggi, Korumburra and Leongatha, looping up and down the main streets, past pre polling stations and stopping to give out bumper stickers to voters.
"It's making voters aware of the issue. The issue hasn't gone away, and they need to consider that when they vote," said Mr Ellery, who was spreading the message across to Bairnsdale today.
John and Ken have no political affiliation and are acting in response both to community concerns around nuclear power and the dangers being highlighted by experts about having a nuclear power station close to a large population.
Particular concerns include safety issues, in regard to keeping a power station going to avoid a meltdown, health issues, a lack of jobs for locals, only being able to provide about four percent of Australia's energy requirements and using what has been dubbed as 'yesterday's technology'.
"Worldwide, it's gone from 20% nuclear generation down to 9%. So, the rest of the world is now stepping away from it. When you look statistically at the other power stations across the world, within the close proximity of those stations, they say, within two decades there's an extremely high number of birth defects to children. There's cancer, ongoing cancer associated just to the background radiation of the people living within those areas," explained Ken.
Ken also mentioned that a UK study demonstrated that property values within an 80-kilometer radius of a nuclear power station generally dropped, in the first instance, by 20%.
"There is no actual justification for using nuclear compared to renewables. Also, what you look at in the costing, when they say that the costings have gone from trillions down to billions with the Dutton plan, those costings don't take into consideration the cost of getting water, the cost to the communities, the cost of all the infrastructure you need, mine rehabilitation in places where this infrastructure is," explained John.
"The pretext of the seven power stations that they're saying they're going to build, is that they'll build them in a place where they can plug them into the grid. The actual grid in the valley with the Delburn Wind Farm generation that's going in, it's enough that the grid is actually full. There's no capacity in the grid to take on a nuclear power station. So, that's just an absolute fallacy."
While voting for the Federal Election wraps up this Saturday, John and Ken believe the issue won't go away.
"Particularly given there's a lot of vested interests wanting to pursue this nuclear madness, and so we suspect that it'll keep on going, and certainly a lot of the small community groups who are opposed to nuclear power will continue their struggle," John said.

Ken Hardisty, Michael Wright (National Secretary) and John Ellery