TZV COMPULSORY CONCILIATION

On Tuesday at 1pm, we will attend the compulsory conciliation in the Fair Work Commission. Three of our job delegates will also attend as we negotiate. We will be attempting to get an agreement before the Government election caretaker period (we understand is from 4 November).
Given the imminent election, and the expected uncertain outcome, we are in a complex situation. We want an increase and backpay asap. But it must be a fair outcome. An interim agreement might be one answer. TZV have offered an interim pay rise of 3%, but the conditions attached would have been a sellout. See Bulletin 30.
We rejected it. TZV have been well short of the mark through the negotiations despite meetings we have held with the CEO and the Government.

TZV COMPULSORY CONCILIATION WHAT TO DO?

CWU is the only union legally capable of representing you at the compulsory Conference. We will be in the FWC at 1pm Tuesday. This follows many months of direct negotiations between CWU and TZV. While some progress was made, the issue of fair pay and backpay remained unresolved.
Watch for the email report from us after the conciliation. Probably late that afternoon. Sometimes we are restricted from reporting some matters that is the nature of conciliation which is invariably confidential.
The final outcome will be determined by CWU members, and only by CWU members. If there is an offer worthy of consideration, we will do a snap poll by email. We have a long list of email addresses of support staff members. You should have received a special support bulletin (Number 3) already.

TRIPLE ZERO TO BE TAKEN OVER???

Continued from last week: The Senate Environment and Communications References Committee made a number of recommendations. 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 both Telstra 000 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 below.

WHAT IS 000 TRIPLE ZERO?

When you make a 000 call, from a mobile or a landline, your carrier (Telstra, Optus, TPG etc) will switch your call to one of the 000 call answering centres. (my description to help the explanation).
The 000 call answering centres are tendered out to Telstra. Telstra has set up three 000 answering centres, one in each Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
So, a Telstra employee or labour hire casual will answer your call within 3 seconds, usually.
The Telstra employee or contractor will ask a few short questions and connect the call to an appropriate call management centre. (my description to help the explanation).
The calls will be monitored by Telstra 000 as they are transferred to an appropriate call management centre in the relevant State. The State call management areas are either Police, Ambulance or Fire Brigade. Significantly, for this consideration, these are all State Government responsibilities. Each State has its own 000 management facility.
In Victoria, the State Government has established a central call management facility - Triple Zero Victoria (TZV/ESTA formerly ESTA). Once the call from Telstra is received, TZV will triage and arrange for the dispatch of one or all of the services needed Ambulance, Police or Fire.
Of course, this explanation is a simplification of a complex function. Despite the complexity, staff manage the calls efficiently. The staff are generally not well paid despite their skills, their commitment and ability to work at times under significant stress.

WHAT IS 000 TRIPLE ZERO MANY THINGS

So, 000 is a combination of many functions.
- Your initial call from your carrier uses your carrier's general equipment mobile towers, landlines, switching and software.
- The Call answering centres have their own equipment, call answering stations and software.
- The State call management centres are far more complex with their own equipment, call management stations and software

WHAT IS 000 TRIPLE ZERO THE RECOMMENDATION

On our reading of the report, the Telstra and Optus outages were caused by problems in the carrier's general equipment and the method it handles the call. During the outage the calls never reached Telstra 000. No problem was identified at Telstra 000. The State Government functions will not be controlled by the Commonwealth Government.
So, what part can be handed over to a statutory authority? We do not see a practical answer that will avoid future similar problems.

AUS POST INTRODUCTION OF POSTCODES EXHIBITION

Exhibition - 1967 Refection, in Waverley Library's foyer. 1967 was an important year in Australian history and this exhibition will highlight the two major events of that year, the referendum for Aboriginal constitutional representation and the introduction of postcodes.
The exhibition will comprise of photographs with information on the 1967 Referendum, as well as the story of the postal service in the Bondi area, the technical developments that lead to the introduction of postcodes and the consequences for those engaged as workers in mail sorting. The exhibition will run until the 29th of October.