CWU News - Communications Union

TECHNICAL AND SERVICES BRANCH WEEKLY BULLETIN 2025

Number 24 2 August 2026

WELCOME GAWAINE LEE

We welcome Gawaine Lee to our staff in the T&S Branch. Gawaine is working part time for the moment as we develop our internal arrangements for our Industrial Officers.
Our staff contact details are

Secretary		Dan Dwyer	office@cwu.asn.au
Assistant Secretary	John Ellery	
Industrial Officer	Ken Hardisty	
Industrial Officer	Gawaine Lee	
Office Manager		Theresa Bradley	office@cwu.asn.au	03 9663 6815
Office Manager		Alice Piccolo	office@cwu.ans.au	03 9663 6815

BAI

We were far from an agreement but the BAI negotiations continued. A new proposal was received late on Friday but has not been considered as yet. So it is moving. Previously BAI had proposed the following:
1 Period of operation 4 years
2 Wages 3% or CPI +1% whichever is the greater
3 Allowances Indexed by 3% each year
4 Vehicle allowance Increase to 91 cents per kilometer
We will update the situation next Bulletin.

OPTUS RETAIL EBA

Members have voted in favour of the EBA with a strong vote. The agreement will be put to the Fair Work Commission for assessment and certification. This will take several weeks. The vote details are

STAFF INVOLVED		2326
TOTAL VOTED 		1324 	57%
TOTAL 'YES' VOTES 	1176 	89%
TOTAL 'NO' VOTES 	148 	11%

GPS AND SPEEDING

We have several reports of incorrect GPS calculations of speed. Members are required to prove their innocence without the algorithms. The data is generated using algorithms, even speed.

GPS speed is a calculation (on your car) of speed between two locations (distance v time).

GPS Location accuracy is critical if the time is very short.

Speed limits are derived from commercial maps such as Apple Maps

Your local desk jockey will play with the data on a spreadsheet and issue you with a please explain, even using it for disciplinary reasons, or to support an allegation. resulting in dismissal.
Some of the common errors found, but hard to prove individually have been:

Accused of driving 110 in a 60km/hr zone the GPS used the off-ramp speed, not the freeway speed.

Noticed an overspeed warning when on an overpass on a freeway the GPS used the crossroad speed.

Accused of driving 110 in a 60km/hr zone the GPS used the adjacent side road speed limit.

Accused of driving at 120km/hr in the CBD appears GPS confused by tunnel and non-tunnel system data points

Accused of driving 100 in a 80km/hr zone the GPS confused as speed limit was 100k but 80k in other direction

Accused of driving 60 in a 10km/hr zone the GPS used an adjacent carpark speed limit to find guilt.

Inaccurate road work speed details on maps.

Imagine the amount of time wasted by a desk jockey. Think of the "proof" if you use a freeway each day to travel to work when a side road triggers an overspeed ever day! (It may vary depending on the lane being used on the freeway). Thus, the records generated for the desk jockey can be extensive. The time wasted means that you may not fix as many faults, but we can peruse extensive questionable data.

CONTACT US - FOR HELP
0428 942 878 ddwyer@cwu.asn.au Dan Dwyer
Secretary/Lawyer - industrial matters & advice

CONTACT US - ADMINISTRATION
03 9663 6815 office@cwu.asn.au Administrative
eg payments, applications (Open 8am-4pm MTWT)

Authorised by Dan Dwyer Secretary - CWU Telecommunications & Services Branches. - Home Page

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