BANK DIRECT DEBIT ISSUE

Members who have their monthly Union dues deducted from their bank account will have noticed that there were 2 transactions deducted from their accounts this week. The reference was shown as ASU Brisbane. This was due to a Commonwealth Bank error. The second payment has been refunded. The issue with the transaction reference has also been resolved. Future transactions will show as being from the CWU T&S Branch.

TZV SUPPORT EBA

Only CWU Branch members can legally take industrial action. No other Union is involved. Its time to ask fellow members to support your claim for a better pay outcome from the EBA. Send them this link. Click here to join CWU T&S Branch

TZV SUPPORT DISPUTE SPECIAL NOTE

We have created a special web page to hold all links and information re the dispute. It may be updated during each week and between bulletins. See the TZV Support EBA Central on our web site for the latest developments and the history.

TZV SUPPORT EBA BALLOT FOR INDUSTRIAL ACTION

On Wed 23 Sep, we lodged an application with the FWC seeking Orders for a Ballot of members to approve a range of bans. The FWC has issued orders for the AEC to conduct the Ballot. The Ballot will open on 13 October 2026 and will close on 11 November 2026. It will be a postal ballot.

TZV SUPPORT EBA COMPULSORY CONCILIATION

The Fair Work Act requires that once an order for a Protected Action Ballot is made, the FWC must convene a compulsory conciliation of the parties to attempt to find a resolution. This matter has been re-listed for Tuesday 13 October 2026 at 1.00pm.
The Commission advises that the conference is intended to be a meaningful process. Conferences will be held in private and will be facilitated by a Commission Member. At the conference, Commissioner Redford can do a range of things including:
- mediating - conciliating
- making a recommendation
- expressing an opinion.
The Commission expects parties to use the conference as an opportunity to make genuine attempts to resolve the dispute and that the bargaining representatives will apply the appropriate level of resources and commitment.

OPTUS SHIFT HANDOVER AND PAY REVIEW UPDATE

A number of members have raised the issue of the "pay review" in Optus. Members will remember our claims for payment of hand over time at Satellite Stations. That matter was settled. Optus acted to address associated issues and advised last year that they have paid other staff who were working shift handover (overtime). Members not involved in our original claim reported that they received backpay as well. Members in Canberra and Perth are being reviewed.
Other pay issues arose. Optus advised in August 2025 that they were reviewing a number of issues and taking action to correct the matters. The issues include classifications, minimum rates and allowances. Optus has again advised that the review is continuing and has set up another contact centre for employees inquiring about their pay.
We have arranged for a meeting with Optus to discuss the issues and progress. If you have any concerns about these matters, please contact us asap.

OPTUS REDUNDANCIES

Optus has advised of another round of redundancies. The roles that have been identified as affected by the proposed changes are from the following business units: IT (27), Internal Audit (9) and Enterprise Business (1). Overall, there are approximately 37 roles affected by the proposal across NSW (34), Vic (2) and Qld (1). Please contact us if you have any concerns.

NSW LABOUR HIRE LEGISLATION COMING

After months of campaigning, the NSW Labor Government has committed to introduce a Labour Hire Licensing scheme. This is a big step forward for workers across NSW. Thousands of people like you added their names to the petition, combining with the work from unions across the state uncovering stories of underpayment, mistreatment and unsafe conditions.
Here's why it matters: More than 170 businesses that had their licences cancelled or refused in other states are still operating in NSW. Without a licensing scheme, they can undercut honest businesses, drive down wages and continue to exploit workers.
Labour hire licensing will ensure dodgy labour hire bosses are banned from operating in NSW, forcing them to stop ripping off workers. (Unions NSW)

TRIPLE ZERO TO BE TAKEN OVER?

On 28 October 2025, the Senate referred an inquiry into the Triple Zero service outage (the inquiry) to the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee. The report made a number of recommendations. An important one was Recommendation 2: The committee recommends that the Australian Government consider establishing a statutory authority to assume responsibility for the Emergency Call Person function.
We represent members in 000 in Telstra and the Victorian state entity Triple Zero Victoria TZV formerly known as ESTA.
What does the recommendation really call for? To understand the complexity, we discuss 000 in the next bulletin.
We also provide an extract from the report below.

EXTRACT FROM SENATE 000 REPORT

Responsibility for the Triple Zero Emergency Call Person function
10.12 Successive telecommunication outages have shown that privatisation is not a suitable model for essential services like Triple Zero. In line with this, the committee recommends that the Australian Government should consider assuming responsibility for the Triple Zero Emergency Call Person (ECP) function to ensure that Triple Zero is operated as an essential public safety service and is not outsourced to the private sector.
10.13 To achieve this, the committee recommends that the Australian Government should consider establishing a statutory authority to assume responsibility for the ECP function that is currently performed by Telstra. The authority would be responsible for answering Triple Zero calls, operating and maintaining the emergency call platform and associated infrastructure, and transferring calls to the relevant state and territory emergency service organisations.
10.14 To support implementation, the committee recommends that the Commonwealth should consider developing the necessary capability, systems and workforce, including consideration of transitional arrangements such as the transfer of existing ECP staff to the statutory authority to preserve expertise and maintain service continuity.
Recommendation 2
10.15 The committee recommends that the Australian Government consider establishing a statutory authority to assume responsibility for the Emergency Call Person function.