Telstra EA Negotiations Update

EBA negotiations with Telstra continue this week. We will be hoping, and expecting, Telstra will see sense over some of the proposals they have placed in a draft EA. This was highlighted in last week’s Victorian P&T/T&S newsletter.The Victorian branches have been conducting an online survey

www.surveymonkey.com/s/TelstraEAHaveYourSay

– your contributions are still welcome, if you haven’t already done so) on the key issues (e.g. forced redeployment, no right to choose the Workstream section of the EA, underpayment for emergency duty) and it is clear that our members overwhelmingly reject Telstra’s wish list.

We now understand there has been a small concession in relation to ‘reversion’ arrangements for expired AWA staff, allowing them ‘choice’ if they ‘revert’ to the EBA for the life of the new agreement as against a12 month period .

The results of the Victorian survey so far as follows:

* 92.2% oppose Telstra’s EBA proposal in regard to forced redeployment

* 94.4% opposed Telstra’s proposal for new employees to commence only in the ‘Job Family scheme’.

* 97% oppose Telstra’s proposal regarding Emergency Duty.

* 95% want further negotiations on the important items in the unions’ Log of Claims that Telstra has refused to deal with: e.g. proper regulation of GPS use, proper banding for Customer Field and Tech jobs

* 95.9% of respondents will ‘Vote No’ if Telstra put a non-negotiated EA to a vote of employees.
Further discussions with Telstra occurred this week, and a further survey from the Divisional office has been generated. If you wish to participate go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/sTelstraEAHaveYourSay

In addition the divisional office has produced the following table:

Issue	Current Telstra EA	Proposed Telstra EA
Pay rise -Workstream	3.5% + 3% + 3% Plus superannuation guarantee rises (total 1%)	3% + 3% + 3%
Pay rise – Job Family	Pay pool 3.5%, 3%, 3%. Superannuation guarantee rises	Pay pool 3%
Hours of work	36 3/4	No change
Shifts	10 hours except under 12 hour shift agreement	Extended shifts between 10-12 hours by agreement. Shift loadings apply.
Overtime, penalty rates		No change
Emergency duty	3 hours minimum payment	1 hour minimum payment if work performed at home.
Public holidays	Includes Telstra extra day	No change
Leave		No change to existing leave entitlements. Increase in amount of leave that can be bought out. New entitlement of up to 10 days paid domestic violence leave.
Redundancy payout	80 weeks	80 weeks
Redundancy/redeployment	Redeployment voluntary.	Compulsory redeployment into “suitable” position. (For more information see below.)
AWA reversion to EA	Employees on AWAs which expired prior to Sept 2010 able to come onto the EA any time during its operation.	No change.
Work model arrangements	Choice of Workstream or Job Family for existing and new CFW and TW employees	Workstream phased out. Present employees may remain on Workstream arrangements. All new employees come onto Job Family (see below).

For Telstra to try and dress up their proposal for forced redeployment as being about ‘job security’ is laughable if it wasn’t so serious. Their track record on redeployment for those who genuinely want to stay inside Telstra under the current EBA has been littered with too many forced redundancies.

This is the employer which has laid off 50 to 60 thousand employees and which is currently off-shoring Telstra jobs without any holding back. Where is their demonstrated commitment to Australian jobs?

‘Job security’ all of a sudden? If only it were true!

If common sense doesn’t prevail in the negotiations, then the members will need, in the first instance, to spread the message amongst all Telstra staff (including expired AWA staff) of the need to commence a wide spread ‘Vote No’ campaign across the entire workforce.

Communication Workers’ Union is the Communications Division of the CEPU