Telstra walks out of negotiations

November 17, 1999
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Telstra walks out of negotiations

By Tim E. Stewart

In an effort to secure an enterprise agreement without union endorsement, Telstra management walked out of negotiations with unions on November 5. The following week, management express-posted thousands of individually addressed letters to staff containing a draft copy of the "customer contact workstream" agreement and encouraging them to vote for it in a ballot to be held one week before Christmas.

Telstra had told staff that both the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) and the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union would be fully consulted before a final draft was put to a staff vote.

Management's walkout from the negotiations has forced the unions to call on staff to reject the draft agreement, a response that the CPSU, in particular, is ill prepared for.

The CPSU's initial response to the proposal was that it was a win because it would deliver a 4% wage increase. However, it was soon revealed that more than 50% of staff had been informed individually that their new pay scales would be thousands of dollars below current rates.

Rather than seek the many disgruntled union members' endorsement for a log of claims, the CPSU officials have held poorly attended workplace meetings to obtain members' "feedback". This approach has caused confusion since many members understand that management is attacking wages, yet the CPSU has not clearly opposed the proposed changes.

The latest CPSU bulletin has promised members' meetings to endorse a "no" vote on the draft, but a comparison table in the bulletin reveals major weaknesses in the union's approach. Where management is proposing a new company rate of pay, the CPSU leaders say that customer contact workstream staff should "not be discriminated against" compared to other workers in Telstra.

Rather than oppose management's proposal to remove annual pay increments (guaranteed wage rises to reflect increased skills and knowledge), the CPSU bulletin argues for lump sum payments to "compensate staff who are missing out on future increments".

Nowhere in the bulletin is it mentioned that a 2% wage increase is guaranteed, even if management's proposed agreement is rejected. Nor is it mentioned that a new enterprise agreement is due to be negotiated in 12 months.

Members First activists in Telstra have proposed a log of claims based on no loss of pay or conditions, union control of performance targets, no individual contracts and union scrutineering of the ballot.

Despite having been unanimously endorsed by the union's Queensland branch conference in October, the log of claims proposal, and a call for a campaign which is controlled by members, have been ignored by union officials.

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