CWU SIGNAL No. 673– 29 September 2015
A MALCOLM TURNBuLL HANGOVER
Overwhelmingly Australians celebrated the political demise of Tony Abbott.
We celebrated. But now we have woken up to a Malcolm Turnbull hangover.
In his first speech, Turnbull said he would lead a “thoroughly Liberal government” committed to his core values of “freedom, the individual and the market”.
We don’t claim to be fluent in Liberal, but here’s a rough translation.
Freedom: The freedom for big business to exploit working people for outrageous profit. The freedom to send jobs overseas. Freedom, to a Liberal, means the protection of privilege.
The individual: Individual bargaining between a powerful boss and a worker held down by unfair work laws. The celebration of individual profit without fair tax contributions. The triumph of the individual over the community.
The market: Profits come first, people come second.
These Liberal values speak to a system of winners and losers, of exploitation and isolation. Our values seek to build a community that respects everyone’s contribution.
The struggle continues.
EMERGENCY SERVICES TELECOMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY (ESTA)
The negotiations between the CWU and ESTA for a new enterprise agreement are not proceeding as well as expected.
As a result the members have voted to implement a carefully targeted industrial action campaign designed to pressure management and the state government to apply some common sense and get back to the bargaining table.
The members reaffirmed the unions’ stand over the outstanding issues in the bargaining in a recent survey.
The industrial action by members began on Friday 25th September 2015.
SUBBY MEMBERS BATTLING ON
The union, through the Victorian branches have been representing a number of our sub-contractor members in their problems with the prime contracting companies and particularly ISGM.
The issues in the main can be summarised as follows:
- The refusal by the WorkCover authority to pay workers compensation because the sub-contractors are considered to be ‘employees’ by the authority, and not sub-contractors.
- The unjustified removal of sub-contractors from work allocation by the company.
- The bullying and victimisation of sub-contractors by the prime contractor.
The CWU has taken some cases to the court/commission with some success and others are pending at the time of writing.
It is important to note that the CWU can only represent fully paid-up members in these situations.
Anybody seeking to join can do so online – www.cepuvic.org.au or phone the branch 9663 6815 for a joining form.
THE FIGHT TO KEEP OUR OWN COMMUNICATIONS UNION IS NOT OVER YET.
Allen Hicks, the National ETU Secretary and the National CEPU Secretary has applied to the Federal Court to change the decision-making rules to allow the National Council control over all Divisions Communications, Electrical and Plumbing).
This would in effect mean domination by the electricians as they claim they pay 64% of total CEPU membership fees.
When the separate unions were amalgamated in the early 1990’s, divisional autonomy rules were developed to protect the interests of minority member groups in the different industries. Currently matters that affect only that Division can only be dealt with by that division, and any changes to the rules have to be agreed to by each Division.
Other amalgamated unions and the ACTU have been contacted to suggest that tis move by the ETU could cause major problems for the union movement in general.
Several long-term members and delegates applied to be heard by the Federal Court. The Directions Hearing is on October 18th.
CHANGE IN LEADER WON’T CHANGE LIBERAL’S ANTI-WORKER AGENDA
A change in the Liberal leader won’t change their anti-worker agenda. No matter who is at the helm, this Liberal Government has let down Australian workers, families and communities through their relentless attacks on workers.
Malcolm Turnbull stood side by side with Tony Abbott throughout the last two years in which unemployment rose, thousands and thousands of Australian jobs were lost and the wages and conditions of some of the lowest paid Australians were targeted.
Mr Turnbull’s attempt to separate himself from the Abbott Government’s broken promises is simply spin.
Mr Turnbull was a senior member of the team throughout this period. He has played a key role in a Government that supports cutting penalty rates, cutting minimum wages, cutting rights at work and pushing through trade agreements that don’t support local jobs.
“Most concerning is Malcolm Turnbull’s claim that he wants to go back to the style of Government Australia experienced under John Howard– the government that delivered WorkChoices,” said ACTU President Ged Kearney.
TO SHARE WITH YOUR TEENAGE CHILDREN
ACTU worksite for Schools’ free e-book First Job Ready brings together practical tips for first time job seekers.
- Resume writing
- Professional presentation
- Getting a tax file number
- Reading a pay slip
The 34 page e-book is written in simple language and provides real life examples.
The book also covers workplace issues young people face in the job market, like unpaid trial work, cash-in-hand payments and dodgy job ads.
Download your free copy now (PDF or iBooks) by visiting worksite www.actu.org.au/firstjobready
OPTUS EMPLOYMENT PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT 2015
Bargaining
The CWU met with Optus on Friday 28 August for the third meeting in the current round of bargaining for a new Employment Partnership Agreement.
The Agreement and the modem Award.
The meeting addressed changes to the current agreement that need to be made to bring it into line with the new Optus modern award.
In the award modernisation process, the CWU was successful in negotiating some changes to the existing award which gave more certainty around certain working conditions.
Optus and the CWU agree that these changes should be picked up in the agreement but we are still considering some details of the wording around some issues i.e. hours of work and health and safety representative training.
Hours of work.
The new award limits the number of ordinary hours that can be worked in any one day to 10, with exemptions relating to shift arrangements and individual flexibility agreements.
We are discussing how to ensure that this provision does not limit existing shift arrangements where shifts of greater than ten hours but less than 12 hours are in operation. 12 hour shifts are already catered for and regulated in both the award and draft agreement.
HSR training.
In the case of health and safety representative (HSR) training, the CWU wants to ensure that the wording in the agreement properly reflects the provisions of the Work Health and Safety Act.
The Act essentially gives health and safety representatives the right to choose which training course they attend, provided it is approved by the regulator.
CWU claims discussed.
We also began discussion of items contained in the CWU’s log of claims, including an increase in the amount of leave available for emergency duty and the provision of a domestic violence leave entitlement.
The union is optimistic about getting a positive result in both these areas, though discussion is continuing as to whether or not to provide a specific amount of domestic violence leave.
Future meetings will address the claims that the CWU has tabled on pay, redundancy entitlements and redundancy procedures. Members can refer to Optus Bargaining Bulletin #1 for more details of these claims.
It will also consider a further matter raised by the CWU about the grading level at which certain entitlements (overtime payments, start and finish times, on-call provisions) cease to apply.
Members have told the CWU they believe the current exemption structure is unfair and also acts as a disincentive to their seeking promotion to higher levels.
TECH POST RELOCATION.
For a number of years, the remaining trade based staff (locksmiths, welders, fitter and turners, carpenters, etc) from what was the Tech Post area of Australia Post, has been located in a shared Laverton facility, under the Transport business unit.
A recent “ham fisted” relocation proposal that has been implemented without any proper consultation has now led to a working party being formed to retrieve (if possible) a very unsatisfactory situation.
The proposed relocated premises are in a very run down ex furniture factory setting in Dunstans Crt, Thomastown which currently is used as a parcels depot for postal contractors, and shortly will be the possible site for relocations of a number of other northern suburbs mail hubs.
Quite frankly, the facilities at this site are unacceptable and second rate, and a number of OH&S issues, as well as the practicalities of having no storage areas for items such as street posting poxes and ULD’s under repair are a focus of the working party.
In addition, a very large, shared electrical sub-station smack in the middle of the TechPost area has proven to be emitting levels of Electro Magnetic Radiation at the mains frequency (50 Hz) which are sufficiently high enough to be of concern if staff are close to the walls of the substation.
To make matters worse, the premises are nothing more than a tin shed, with little or no insulation on the walls or roof, and the toilet and lunch room facilities either are lacking or in a disgraceful state. Clearly, the project management of this proposed move is a disaster, and Australia Post should immediately cut their losses and seek a far more suitable and satisfactory setting for these staff.
JOHN ELLERY
Secretary