REST BREAKS: TELSTRA DIGS IN
Telstra is continuing to maintain its current position on rest breaks for employees working in Directory Assistance centres despite the CWU having notified the Fair Work Commission of a dispute in this area.
On Friday 15 May, the CWU and Telstra attended a conference called by Fair Work Commission to consider the CWU’s claim that Telstra had not properly consulted employees over the changes. These reduce scheduled rest break time in these centres by about two thirds.
The CWU argued that Telstra has not responded adequately to calls from employees for an independent risk assessment to be carried out before the new arrangements were introduced.
At the conference before Commissioner Gregory, the CWU said that it was already receiving reports from members about the increased stress being caused by the reduction in breaks. The union has also been told that some employees have been required to use at least one break for administrative tasks.
For its part, Telstra says that it has complied with all its consultation obligations under the Enterprise Agreement and has arrangements in place in the centres to mitigate any health and safety risk. It has rejected the CWU proposal for an independent risk assessment.
The CWU will now seek further evidence from its members and other Telstra employees about how the new arrangements are affecting them and will consult with them about the next steps in this dispute.
We have also put the issue on the agenda for the current EA negotiations.
OPTUS SHEDS MORE JOBS, SIGNALS COST RESTRAINT
Optus has notified the CWU of its decision to make some 40 positions in Managed Services and Delivery redundant. The redundancies will mostly affect senior and middle management roles.
Optus says that none of the roles is being sent offshore.
The decision comes as Optus CEO Allen Lew announced both increases in Optus’ capital spending plans and an ongoing emphasis on cost control, especially labour costs.
“Managing of our cost is a very key part of what we have to do in Optus,” Lew told a recent analyst briefing.
“What is not visible to all of you is the stuff that we are doing to reduce our service costs in terms of how do we get customers to go onto the internet, online to interact with us both from a sales and a service perspective, because as you know manpower costs in Australia are extremely high.”
Like Telstra, Optus clearly intends to try to reduce these labour costs by encouraging more customer on-line self-service.
Optus has reportedly said that such measures would not lead to any decrease in service quality or an overall fall in jobs. But seeing will be believing. Watch this space.
OPTUS AWARD DISCUSSIONS CONTINUE
Discussions with Optus over the content of the Optus modern award have resumed following a Fair Work Commission conference convened to discuss certain unresolved issues.
At the conference, Deputy President Smith indicated that it would be best if the content of the award could be settled between the parties rather than having it referred to a Full Bench for decision.
Optus and the CWU are currently working towards reaching such a resolution. At present the major sticking point is the payment of allowances, including those that cover expenses incurred in the course of work (.g. for travel, or relocation).
The CWU argues that a number of these allowances should be specified in the new award while Optus wants to have such payments, where applicable, determined by company policy.
Both parties are working towards having these issues settled before negotiations for a new Employee Partnership Agreement (EPA) start in the second half of this year. However, as is the case with all modern awards, it will finally be up to the FWC to determine the content of the new award, not Optus or the CWU.
NBN PUTS NEW AGREEMENT OUT TO VOTE
nbn (formerly NBN Co) has advised the CWU that it has sent copies of its proposed nbn and CEPU Technical Employees Agreement 2015 – 2018 out to employees. It has also advised them of the time, place and method of voting on the proposed agreement.
It has done this despite the fact that the parties were still engaged in negotiations.
The vote on the agreement opened at midday Thursday 21 May and closed at 5pm Tuesday 26 May (AEST).
Members should be clear that this proposed agreement has not been agreed to by CWU negotiators and could not be recommended to members for approval.
Although it contains no major changes to conditions, the pay offer it contains is well below that sought by your union representatives. The total 4.5% rise over three years will almost certainly end up being below inflation and so would represent an actual wage reduction over the life of the agreement.
It is obviously less than nbn employees deserve.
The CWU is disappointed that nbn has chosen to end negotiations unilaterally and put out this sub-standard offer for a vote. Members should now know, however, that the larger culprit here is the Abbott government which is hell bent on implementing a destructive and punitive industrial relations policy at the expense of its own employees.
The CWU negotiating team has advised nbn that they would not be able to endorse an agreement with such a low pay rise.