TZV SUPPORT INDUSTRIAL ACTION

Last week we reported on the decision of TZV to walk away from negotiations until the Vic state elections in November are completed and the Government is settled. (likely next year).
We arranged for a Zoom meeting of members last Monday evening to consider our response.
The overwhelming consensus was that TZV Support Staff take industrial action to persuade TZV back to negotiations with a better pay and conditions offer.
We are now preparing an application seeking that the FWC issue orders for a Protected Action Ballot (PAB). This is explained below.

TZV SUPPORT - ACTION LAST WEEK

Once TZV learned of our decision, they made an offer to park the negotiations until the election outcome is resolved. However, it came with adverse conditions. They offered an "administrative" 3% pay rise, and a sign on bonus of $2965. When negotiations resume (likely next year) members have to agree to no backpay. Further, members must agree to no industrial action in furtherance of our claims until 30 Sept 2027 over a year away.
We did not agree to the ridiculous proposal.

TZV SUPPORT WHAT TO DO NOW?

Get support. Ask your fellow workers to join you by joining the Union.
Keep up with developments. The weekly Bulletin will report developments.
And review the following resources:
The Latest Support News is on our web site
The Support Pay proposal is on our web site.
The Draft Support EBA is also on our web site.

WHAT IS A PAB?

This is a ballot of union members covered by the proposed EBA. The Ballot is usually conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission. To succeed, 50% of the members must vote and 50% plus one must approve of the industrial action proposed. The ballot paper will ask for various types of action to be approved. For example:

In support of reaching an enterprise agreement with your employer, do you support the taking of protected industrial action against your employer which involve one or more of the following:
Question 1 An unlimited number of bans or limitations on answering or making telephone calls, responding to voicemails, or sending or responding to email? Yes No
Question 2 More

TZV WILL YOU BE ON THE ROLL Of VOTERS?

First, you must be a financial member.
Secondly, the Roll of voters is determined by the AEC. We notify the AEC of your full name and address. So does TZV. The AEC will compare the information and REJECT any name where critical information does not match. Often members have not kept us up to date. TO BE SURE that you will get a vote, please send an email to office@cwu.asn.au confirming your full name and current address asap.

TZV OPS AGREEMENT - SERVICE RECOGNITION AND TRANSLATION

This dispute has been resolved with an agreement with TZV. TZV will now recognize prior service when translating staff. The agreement can be found here.

HFC APPEAL BY TELSTRA

The HFC Case will return to the FWC on 12 November when the Telstra appeal will be heard. Telstra had argued that the FWC could not hear the dispute because the FWC lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter. We won the argument. Hence the Telstra appeal to the Full Bench.

VALE GARRY NEWBERY

Garry was one of our strongest delegates, representing Aus Post technical members. With deep sadness we announce the passing of Garry on Sunday 23rd August 2026. Beloved husband of Wendy. Proud father of Kimberley. Adoring Popsi of his 2 grandchildren Kaylen and Ella. Garry will be sadly missed by his loving family and many dear friends. A pray service for Garry will be offered at St Nicholas of Myra Catholic Church, 326 High Street Penrith on Thursday 24th of September 2026 at 11:00am. Following the service, the cortege will proceed for interment at Pinegrove Memorial Park, Kington St, Minchinbury. See Garry John Newbery - Online Tribute.

TELSTRA OUTAGE

Telstra has responded to the Union's request for more information. It said

In response to your email, the independent investigation by Technology Audit Partners (TAP) identified that Telstra had not treated network timing as the critical capability it is, and that ownership and accountability for that capability were not defined clearly enough. In simple terms, it was not given the priority, oversight or specialist focus it needed. Telstra accepts the TAP findings.
As previously shared, the outage was not the fault of any one person or team. It points to the need for us to strengthen controls, processes, ownership and governance, and that is our focus.
Importantly, we did not wait for the final report to act. Since July, we have taken immediate steps to strengthen the resilience of our timing system, introduced additional monitoring and testing, and established a company-wide program to implement the improvements identified. We are also investing in and building the skills and expertise needed to support this critical network capability.
Our focus now is on implementation - learning from what happened and taking the actions needed to strengthen the network and services Australians rely on every day.