12 JULY 24 - ALL TELSTRA EBA VOTED UP
Telstra Retail Stores Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027
Telstra Limited Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027
Amplitel Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027
Telstra Infraco Fixed Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027
30-06-24 OUR UNION SAYS - TELSTRA EBA NOT ACCEPTABLE
As predicted Telstra this week walked from talks, issued draft EBAs to staff, and will seek votes from 3 July.
30-06-24 TELSTRA EBA - SOME ISSUES
The feedback from members raised a number of issues. These are some:
No. Of Eligible Voters 3614
Total No. Of Votes 1644 (45%) Response Rate
Total 'Yes' Votes 1421 (86%)
Total 'No' Votes 223 (14%)
No. Of Eligible Voters 17882
Total No. Of Votes 11808 (66%) Response Rate
Total 'Yes' Votes 8511 (72%)
Total 'No' Votes 3297 (28%)
No. Of Eligible Voters 118
Total No. Of Votes 80 (68%) Response Rate
Total 'Yes' Votes 69 (86%)
Total 'No' Votes 11 (14%)
No. Of Eligible Voters 1107
Total No. Of Votes 768 (69%) Response Rate
Total 'Yes' Votes 532 (69%)
Total 'No' Votes 236 (31%)
Members from all CEPU Branches and from all unions were polled in the past 2 weeks - and they said NO to the Telstra EBA.
Our Branch result was an overwhelming 80% supporting a NO vote.
Now is the time for members to talk to fellow workers,
join CWU TS Branch
if not already a member, and vote NO.
Pay: Overwhelmingly, the pay rises are insufficient. There is no catch-up to overcome the large CPI increases over the past 2 years. Members have lost purchasing power forever, unless there is a catch-up. In our Branch Members indicated a 15-18% pay rise over 3 years was justified.
Job Family: If you are doing your job to the satisfaction of your bosses - you are meeting expectations. Members therefore expect the full pay rise in that situation.
There is NO COST to Telstra as the pay pool (bucket of money) is the same.
Forced Leave: Again this is a matter of very small cost. Yet Telstra want to force staff to take annual leave and Long Service Leave at a time when members are not ready for leave. Annual Leave is a right to be enjoyed at a time when we want 4 weeks off - not 2 weeks because we were forced to take split leave.
Wedge Fears: While there has not been much publicity, members reported concern about the two tier redundancy scheme being introduced. The corporate reshuffle in Purple is being used to introduce a two tier redundancy benefit. (The current 80 weeks and the Telstra Policy (NES Max 13 weeks)).
Telstra Prices: Telstra can afford it. Telstra is a profitable company and just put consumer prices up by 5%. (see below) The real pay cut for staff will increase profits and senior executive bonuses.
Telstra Attitude: At the same time that staff are to be cut by 9% and those staff will be redundant before the EBA kicks in, it expects staff to cop a below par pay rise, without catch-up for the hard work done by staff during Covid.
30-06-24 TELSTRA EBA - WHERE TO NOW
The vote commences on 3 July and closes on 10 July. Telstra will get the result late on 10 July.
YES VOTE: The EBA goes to the FWC for approval. The EBA and pay rises do not start until 1 Oct 2024.
NO VOTE: We will seek further negotiations to address the issues that members want improved. If this does not result in improvements, we may seek protected industrial action, particularly bans. This process begins with a formal vote of members where 50% must vote, and 50% approve a basket of actions. General strike action is not on our radar.
There is now an involvement at this stage by the FWC to head off industrial action.
NOTE As the current EBA nominally expires on 1 Oct 24, no protected industrial action can commence before that date.
30-06-24 LATE NEWS - CPI UP
Australian CPI Inflation in May Surprises to the Upside. The annual increase in CPI inflation was 4%, core CPI inflation 4% and trimmed mean inflation 4.4%. This increases the chances of the RBA increasing the official cash rate, which currently sits at 4.35%.
So the Telstra 4% means you are standing still, no gain at all. But more importantly no catch-up for the high CPI during the last EBA.
30-06-24 TELSTRA JOB FAMILY PANIC FOLLOWING 4% CPI
Telstra issued some material to help the YES vote. We have strongly advocated for Job Family members to be guaranteed the full pay rise if they meet expectations (Rating 3). Meeting expectations (ME) means you are doing your job properly!
Telstra issued a convoluted table suggesting indicatively - not promising some staff with ME will get 4% in Year 1 only.
Telstra said:
As previously shared, we are unable to finalise a proposed FY24 merit matrix for Job Family employees and consult with you all on this until the performance review process is finalised in early August. However, we have decided to share an indicative FY24 merit matrix (with a % range provided) for our Band 2-4 EA employees. We hope that this will provide some additional reassurance about what our people can expect to receive on 1 October (subject to a `yes' vote). We will be clear that this is an indicative view only and subject to final performance ratings and consultation with the unions. (table omitted)
30-06-24 TELSTRA PRICES
In our survey, many members pointed to the 5% increase in Telstra prices. No 5% flow on to workers, just a margin for extra profit. You would have seen their letters to their customers:
Telstra Bills
...
IS THE PAY OFFER AND ACCEPTABLE?
Is the Telstra offer a fair offer? (from a very profitable company?). Here some comparisons:
Quarter CPI CPI Telstra Postal National
Quarter Annual Inc Inc Wage Case
Oct-Dec 21 1.3% 3.5%
Jan-Mar 22 2.1% 5.1%
Apr-Jun 22 1.8% 6.1%
Jul-Sep 22 1.8% 7.3% 2.50% 6.10% 5.50%
Oct-Dec 22 1.9% 7.8%
Jan-Mar 23 1.4% 7.0%
Apr-Jun 23 0.8% 6.0%
Jul-Sep 23 1.2% 5.4% 3.00% 6.00% 8.60%
Oct-Dec 23 0.6% 4.1%
Jan-Mar 24 1.00 3.6%
Apr-Jun 24 tba tba
Jul-Sep 24 tba tba 4.00% tba 3.75%
30-06-24 TELSTRA EBA VOTE - KEY POINTS RE PROCESS
Here some key information about the process: Four agreements are going to ballot.
- Telstra Limited Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027
- Amplitel Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027
- Telstra InfraCo Fixed Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027
- Telstra Retail Stores Enterprise Agreement 2024-2027
The new Telstra Limited EA will also cover Telstra Purple Pty Ltd (TPPL) employees currently covered by the TPPL EA.
Key Dates are:
26 June 2024 to 2 July 2024 Employee Consideration Period
03 July 2024 12:01am AEST Vote opens
10 July 2024 4pm AEST Vote closes
03 July 2024 eligible employees will receive an email from CorpVote with a unique 9 digit Voter Access Code that will be required along with your employee ID. This email will provide you with a link to vote via the internet and a phone number if you would prefer to vote by telephone.
23-06-24 TELSTRA EBA VOTE COMING
Negotiations will be completed this week. Telstra has rejected almost all of our extensive log of claims. We have reported in previous Bulletins the main features. The survey we conducted (reported last week), and subsequent responses, indicated no change to the negative sentiment. Some 80% clearly rejected the offer. Others were qualified.
Telstra is expected to walk away this week and go thru the steps to have the proposed EBA approved. This means that you will get a look at the EBA for a week, then get a week to vote on it.
23-06-24 TELSTRA EBA - THE UNION POSITIONS
Our T&S Branch Committee of Management will meet Tuesday to determine our formal position. We will report next week. Our position must reflect our members' position. It is clear from the survey that we will not support a YES vote to adopt the EBA.
Our Union nationally will also determine its position later this week. Ao will the CPSU and Professionals Australia.
While we will communicate this to Telstra, we do not expect Telstra to depart from their timetable.
The EBA if adopted does not come into force until 1 Oct. (just over 3 months away).
23-06-24 TELSTRA EBA - WHAT ARE THE ISSUES
Some of the common issues raised in the survey were:
No catch-up for the high inflation during the current EBA - 4% is not acceptable as it seals a real and significant pay cut.
Job Family Rating 3 (ME) must get a guarantee of the full pay rises, not discounted
The forced annual and long service leave provisions are unfair.
Many reasonable claims in the log rejected by Telstra
Another issue that has not seen much exposure is a provision to amend the redundancy benefits. While this appears to only affect Telstra Purple, we are worried about later exploitation of this by Telstra.
16-06-24 OUR BRANCH - TELSTRA SURVEY
We thank members who rapidly replied to our informal survey of Branch members. We received just over 100 responses within 24 hours. Here the headline results:
Q1. Just over 80% voted to reject the pay rise of 4%, 3.5%, 3%
Q1. About 10% voted to accept the above. (some with qualifications)
Q1. The rest were unclear as they raised other issues.
Q2. The minimum (for 3 years) was 12% but most landed closer to 15%, with most up front.
Q3. Job Family guarantee: These were in line with Q1 and not all replies were from Job Family.
Q4. Most sought (at least) the full pay rise for ME Rating 3
Q5. Seeking comments: Many added comments and other issues. We will not respond to any survey email as we promised to delete the responses for confidentiality reasons. We will capture the comments separately and deal with them.
16-06-24 TELSTRA - WHY THE RUSH?
The current EBA has a nominal expiry date of 30 Sept 2024. The new pay rises are scheduled to commence on 1 Oct 2024. Why the rush?
Discussions with Telstra are set to resume on Monday, 17 June, focussing on the Union's opposition to Telstra's proposal to introduce split shifts for retail employees and to remove minimum engagement periods in any new Agreement.
16-06-24 JOB FAMILY - TELSTRA UPGRADE OFFER
We have been highlighting the illogical policy that staff meeting expectations (Rating 3), that is performing their job completely, are not guaranteed the full pay rises. Last week Telstra said that they could guarantee a minimum of 3% for one year, UP FROM 1%!.
We did not accept that. Telstra called a special meeting last Friday and amended the offer
Telstra's offer now consists of the following guaranteed minimum wage increases, for Job Family employees who achieve a performance rating of 3 or above: 3% in year one; 2.5% in year two; and 2% in year three.
Again we ask - if you are doing your job, why not guarantee the full pay rise?
Remember, if you do not get 4% this year, you may never catch up.
12-06-24 TELSTRA EMPLOYEES - INFORMAL CONFIDENTIAL* SURVEY
1. Should we reject the current pay offer (4%, 3.5%, 3%)?
2. What should we seek over the next 3 years?
3. IF you are Job Family
Should we reject the Job Family offer of a guaranteed 1% only for Rating 3 (Meet Expectations)
4. IF you are Job Family
Should we seek guarantee of 4%, 3.5%, 3% (or higher when negotiated) for Rating 3 (ME)?
5. What other matters are important to you? Any other comments?
SURVEY OF TELSTRA MEMBERS
This is an informal and confidential survey of your current position. We will delete the responses once the answers have been extracted.
12 JUNE - JOB FAMILY - STILL NOT A FAIR POSITION
While there are many problems with the Job Family pay structure (a bucket of money and a bell curve),
there can be no reasonable explanation for the policy that a person meeting expectations (rating 3 ME)
receiving less that the headline pay increases.
Telstra has made a partial but illogical amendment to the policy. Telstra states:
Telstra is to provide an update to this on Friday 14 June.
9 JUNE - TELSTRA SURVEY
There is a possibility that Telstra will "cut and run" from the EBA talks after next week. They will publish the draft EBA and ask you to vote a week later.
TELSTRA EBA - UNION PROPOSAL
Besides our long list of claims, we sought pay increases of 6% each year for 3 years.
TELSTRA EBA OFFER
Telstra has advised of its offers following the series of negotiations: The important points are:
IS THE PAY OFFER AND ACCEPTABLE?
Is the Telstra offer a fair offer? (from a very profitable company?). Here some comparisons:
* Proposed by Telstra
EBA24 - TELSTRA PAY OFFER - TELSTRA SPIN
Telstra shared its proposed increases to pay and superannuation for the next three years. To recap:
We are also currently considering our position on the minimum % increase that a Job Family employee will receive each year if they achieve a rating 3 or higher (currently this is at least 1%). We will provide an update on this very soon.
In meetings with the SBU and employee bargaining representatives this week, we also shared that we would:
Finally, in relation to our Telstra Purple (TPPL) employees we shared the following updates:
31 March 24
EBA negotiations have commenced and the Union if finalising our Log of Claims.
The Telstra EBAs operated from 13 July 2022.
The nominal expiry date of the Agreement is 30 September 2024.
We have reported on the offer from Telstra and Telstra has also given you their story. See our web page comments on the offer.
While negotiations are not complete, and there is no need to rush, we now need your initial comments.
The EBA will not be implemented before 1 October 2024 - nearly 4 months away. We only have one shot at a pay rise about every 3 years. If we were to vote for industrial action, bans and very selective action could not be taken until after 1 Oct.
Telstra would like to propose that in Year 1 of our EAs (1 October 2024) we will increase the minimum Job Family guaranteed percentage increase for those who achieve a rating 3 from 1% to 3%.
We have heard your feedback and recognise the cost-of-living pressures currently being faced. We also know that a rating 3 demonstrates that our people have made an important contribution to Telstra during the year and that they should be rewarding for this.
This week we will send an email asking your opinion about the Telstra EBA and pay offer.
We will create a statistical report from the returns and delete the email responses.
Comments will be welcome.
This covered our claim for catchup with the cost of living, after previous years of miserable pay rises.
Telstra seemed fixated on the rise in their electricity bill (Stop laughing- it's true). We didn't bother telling them that we also have electricity bills.
Notwithstanding the offer, the vast majority of our claims have been rejected.
Even some cost neutral claims were rejected.
For example Job Family members meeting expectations be guaranteed the increases, not just 1%.
Quarter CPI CP Telstra Postal National
Quart Annual Inc Inc Wage Case
Oct-Dec 21 1.3% 3.5%
Jan-Mar 22 2.1% 5.1%
Apr-Jun 22 1.8% 6.1%
Jul-Sep 22 1.8% 7.3% 2.5% 6.1% 5.5%
Oct-Dec 22 1.9% 7.8%
Jan-Mar 23 1.4% 7.0%
Apr-Jun 23 0.8% 6.0%
Jul-Sep 23 1.2% 5.4% 3.0% 6.0% 8.6%
Oct-Dec 23 0.6% 4.1%
Jan-Mar 24 1.0% 3.6%
Apr-Jun 24 tba tba
Jul-Sep 24 tba tba 4.0%* tba 3.75%
Telstra pay rises to 2011 were generally 4%.
Then until 2015 increases were 3.75% (bonus provisions also applied.)
We are proposing the following pay pool for Job Family employees and pay increase for Workstream employees over the next three years. The proposal is made up of 4% from 1 October 2024, 3.5% from 1 October 2025 and 3% from 1 October 2026.
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