On the Line December 1999 8/99 CUSTOMER CONTACT STAFF Why they deserve a better deal Reith backs down over new legislation Telstra's raw burger deal. Corporate profits at record high, wages down Union making ground over Optus sick leave Report on holiday rates for a new millennium British operators on strike and more .... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A musical with a difference! One word ...WE! by Ian McCarthy During this coming January's Sydney Festival trade unionists will have the chance of seeing an exceptional musical based around the life of the legendary American folk singer Pete Seeger. Seeger's art has been an inspiration to generations of American workers as they have battled for their civil rights in a society not renowned for its compassion for the underdog. Australian musician Maurie Mulheron first created his stage show One word ...WE! in 1995 and now it returns by popular demand for a three week season at the New Theatre, Newtown. Playing during its premiere season to packed houses and standing ovations, One word ...WE! is a musical biography of Seeger (who recently turned 80). Once the most boycotted and banned singer in US history Seeger wrote such hits as Guantanamera, If I Had a hammer, Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, Wimoweh and has had his songs recorded by such greats as Peter, Paul and Mary, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Joan Baez and Aretha Franklin among many others. One word ...WE! will have a limited season from 8 January to 29 January at New Theatre, 542 King St, Newtown. The cast includes the great Jeannie Lewis. For bookings ring MCA Ticketing on (02)9873 3575. Prices are $25 and $15 concession. ENDS 220 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The end of Reith's second wave? by Ian McCarthy Branch Secretary Australia's eight million workers have won a significant reprieve and possibly even scored a major victory with the Government's decision to delay introduction of John Howard's second wave industrial legislation. The legislation was to have been introduced in an attempt to further restrict worker and union rights in Australia and so extend the existing hard-line legislation brought in three years ago. However, late last month the Australian Democrats announced that their Senators would not be supporting the Bill through the Senate. The Democrats' decision followed by the Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith's announcement that he would delay the Bill until next year, represents a significant victory for the trade union movement. Earlier this year the ACTU launched a national campaign that included a number of very well-attended city-centre rallies particularly in Melbourne. The ultimate target of the campaign was the Democrats spokesperson on industrial relations Senator Andrew Murray. That campaign seems to have worked and the Democrats now say that they will not support Peter Reith's draconian plans for secret compulsory ballots for strikes, further stripping of awards, the privatisation of mediation, fixed-term appointments for Industrial Relations Commissioners, a more restrictive definition of closed shop and a broadening of the definition of an Australian Workplace Agreement. The Democrats have also rejected Reith's proposals to stop industry-wide bargaining in favour of very limited enterprise bargaining. In response to the Democrat's actions, Peter Reith has said that he will continue to introduce non-contentious industrial legislation from within the Bill and will look at the rest of the legislation next year. Obviously Reith does not see the Democrats' position as final and like other issues that have come before the Party, which holds the balance of power in the Senate, the legislation will inevitably be open to a deal. Somewhat worrying though is Democrat leader Senator Meg Lees' support for a single national industrial relations system. Senator Lees has given in-principle support to moving to one national system of industrial relations in the future, although she said that such a move would need to be done in 'co-operation and consultation with the States'. Jennie George responding to the Democrats' decision on behalf of the ACTU, has said there should be 'no trading' on the Bill by the Democrats. "People out there in the community get a bit tired of the political trades. I think they want parties to actually get up and say this is wrong legislation,'' she said. ENDS 450 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Concession Day is ours, we need it Without consulting the Union or staff members, Telstra have announced that in 2000 the holiday formerly known as Concession Day won't be on a set day and can be taken any time in the calendar year of 2000. There is the small print proviso though that the day chosen must be at the discretion of local management. The CEPU is very sceptical about this policy decision since it is extremely difficult now for members to get leave approval when they want it for ARL, Long Service Leave and RDOs. We believe that members work hard and shift workers don't always get the time off to coincide with their family needs. Concession Day is a Picnic Day for all Telstra staff and should remain as a traditional holiday following the Christmas break. Given Telstra's ongoing record of attacking staff entitlements, it may well be that the cynics amongst us will be proved right and this move may be the first step in attempting to abolish this holiday altogether. The Union will be taking the matter up at the national level. ENDS 180 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KEEP FINANCIAL Choose a direct debit option now by Ian McCarthy Telstra will very soon end the current system of deducting your CEPU fees from your fortnightly pay. This will mean that some members will need to alter their arrangements There are two simple options: ¥ Direct debit from your bank or credit union account - this is done monthly ¥ Monthly direct debit from credit cards - the Union accepts Bankcard, Mastercard or Visa but not American Express. If you wish to discuss these details further please contact Ivka or Melanie in the CEPU office on (02) 9281 2811. Each member wanting to switch will need to sign an authority and return it to the Union office before it goes off to the financial institution. ENDS 120 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overtime ... with the lot by Gary Kennedy CEPU President A certain Telstra business unit, that shall remain nameless, has come up with a fantastic new deal for members who are required to work on the weekends. It's already known as the Movie & Macdonalds deal because Telstra are offering members a 'free' movie ticket and a Macdonalds food voucher in return for working unpaid overtime at the weekend. However, the deal fell apart when the unimpressed members declined the magnificent management offer and opted for money. Further tragedy occurred when the award members again refused the offer even when faced with the heartbreaking situation of no money left in the budget for overtime and the real sickener is that the poor bastards who are on contract were told they had to work. A rather farcical situation it may be but it shows what depths some managers will stoop to in an attempt to maintain their own bonuses at the expense of their workers' entitlements. It has also revealed one of the major deficiencies in individual contracts. The Union is unsure if the contract members were even offered at least the Movie ticket and free hamburger but we have confirmed that they were forced to work on the weekend with no penalties paid. ENDS 220 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PPU latest by Gary Kennedy The Union has not yet concluded discussions with Telstra on the issue of Part Private Use (PPU) of company vehicles and the conditions under which members have commuter use or park their vehicle at Telstra depots. We are still seeking a better understanding of commuter use and attempting to secure a much better deal than is currently available to members where there is agreement between the member and Telstra that commuter use is accepted, ie an enhanced commuter use 'agreement'. If discussions are not fruitful the CEPU will hold further reportback member meetings and so decide on a course of action that will resolve this key issue. ENDS 110 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No union support for call centre ballot by Ian McCarthy and Vivette Horrex Telstra Call Centre staff have completed their vote in a management run ballot to accept or reject the Customer Contact Workforce proposal. Neither the ballot itself nor the undemocratic processes employed by management for the ballot have the support of any Telstra union and without that support the results have no legal standing. The results should be known by the time members receive this On the Line. At a series of national lunch-time membership meetings in late November members of both the CEPU and the CPSU voted overwhelmingly against the proposals, instead calling unanimously for management "... to return to negotiations and bargain in good faith with our representatives as required under the Enterprise Agreement." Employing procedural techniques in common with a banana republic 'election', management only allowed balloting after their view had been directly put to groups of staff without any contrary views being heard. No access was provided for the unions or union delegates and no genuine debate occurred. Balloting in many instances was not secret and envelopes were sometimes not available. The entire process was controlled directly by managers. Unlike union mass meetings where debate is open, transparent, democratic and challengeable, Telstra's balloting process was closed, one-sided and did not involve any independent observers such as the media. Telstra's own auditing agent ran the ballot. Telstra suspended negotiations with the Union when they decided to put their proposal direct to staff rather than continuing discussions and reaching an agreement. This is a first for Telstra in going to staff in direct opposition to the Union and time will tell whether their gamble will pay off. Telstra's first shot in the campaign to convince staff of the benefits of the proposal was to write to each member of staff in a particularly patronising and insulting manner. The letter suggested amongst other things that staff were overpaid in comparison with their private sector counterparts and should understand why it was necessary to correct this situation. Staff were justifiably insulted that two managers on six figure salaries should write to them seeking a vote which would effectively slash the pay rates for customer contact staff. This was particularly galling in that the same organisation had only recently crowed to the Australian business world that it had set a new record for corporate profits. Telstra's behaviour in the recent negotiations has been dishonest and unprincipled to say the least. Whilst Telstra managers maintained a facade of negotiating in good faith with the Unions they were printing and distributing their version of the proposed Customer Contact Workforce Agreement in preparation for a vote without the Union's involvement. The Unions sought to keep the lines of communication open with Telstra in the hope that we might achieve a fair and just outcome. What is difficult to comprehend is why, in an environment where Telstra has achieved spectacular business results, despite competition and a biased regulatory framework, is it necessary for them to suggest that future performance rests with forcing staff to take significant pay cuts. They argue of course that they will maintain staff as 'overpaid' officers until the Company Rate catches up. This might take up to 10 years in many cases. It is more likely that in future Telstra will simply get rid of the existing staff and replace them with new staff at the lower rates of pay. This action by Telstra deserves to be condemned with a resounding NO vote as they persist with their ballot. Their action is an insult to the CEPU members who struggled for many years to achieve reasonable rates of pay and tolerable working conditions such as rest breaks and fair rostering procedures. Telstra is seeking major changes to rostering agreements that are long standing. The effect of these changes would be to reduce the notice period for shift changes to 7 days. The Union has appealed to Telstra on the grounds that the proposed changes are not 'family friendly' and should be abandoned in favour of arrangements which are fair and reasonable. Telstra has refused to even consider the Union's position. Telstra are trying to rush through a Ballot in the hope that what they are proposing will not be scrutinised too closely. Clearly they underrate the intelligence of their staff and our members. If Telstra succeeds in securing a Yes vote, the Agreement cannot be certified unless they can get one of the Unions in the Single Bargaining Unit to agree on the proposal. Both the CEPU and CPSU have told Telstra that the proposal is not acceptable. (To appear as a separate box) The issues in dispute ¥ Benchmark Job Descriptions - these are not agreed and are a fundamental part of the agreement. ¥ Application of the Hay classification system - the Union believes that Telstra is in error in the way in which it is using the Hay criteria - this erroneous application of Hay allows Telstra to downgrade positions and has ramifications for other workstream agreements eg the Customer Field Workforce and Support Workstreams. ¥ The manner in which Telstra use market surveys (restricting the survey to generate the result they want) to establish the Company Rate - if Telstra's method is accepted salaries could go down in future ¥ The timing and delivery of the salary increases and the translation methods ¥ Telstra's refusal to translate current working conditions into the new agreement. ¥ The setting aside by Telstra of existing agreements such as the Green Book agreement. ¥ The duration the agreement is not agreed the Union wants the Customer Contact Workforce Agreement to expire at the same time as the Enterprise agreement - this is important as it places the Union in its strongest bargaining position at the end of the term of the agreement. ENDS 1,000 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Profits fly high whilst wages stagnate by Dale Keeling If you have been getting the uncomfortable feeling lately that the finance news seems to carry endless stories about record corporate profits whilst your wages seem to be stuck on a slow-boat to China, then you have a good nose for reality. In fact, profits - and company director salaries - are booming. During the September quarter companies recorded a 17.3% growth in profits when compared to the same quarter last year. Wages during that same period crept up a paltry 1.8% the lowest quarterly rise in six years. At the same time company directors have been voting themselves huge salary and bonus increases - figures above 50% are not uncommon. Telstra directors for instance gave themselves a 51% increase at the November 12 AGM whilst effectively supporting a wage decrease for customer contact staff throughout the corporation - already the lowest paid group in Telstra. So glaringly obvious are the disparities between workers and their employers, that the head of the Institute of Company Directors has been moved to point out that there is something wrong with such a huge gulf. "If it continues to grow it will cause concern within the community." The ACTU's secretary-elect Greg Combet responded to the release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures by arguing that such divisions will work against social cohesion. "What it confirms is our continuing search towards a US-style society and economy ... a stark divide," he said. As if these profit figures aren't alarming enough, for some peculiar reason known only to itself, the ABS does not include bank profits in its quarterly summaries. These have now been revealed as a whopping $7.2 billion for the year 1998/99. If included in the official figures profit levels would be showing an even greater divide between ordinary wage earners and corporate Australia. ENDS 310 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPEEDING FINE Telstra stuffs up again by Mark Brownlow Assistant Secretary Recently an ex-member contacted us seeking advice on how to deal with yet another Telstra stuff up. This member took redundancy towards the end of 1998. In November of this year he received a letter from Telstra Fleet Services advising that, as he was the driver of a Telstra vehicle photographed speeding on a speed camera on 24 September 1999, he was liable to pay the fine. The member promptly informed Telstra that while he had driven that vehicle when he worked for Telstra he had not worked for them for approximately 12 months and that on the date of the speeding offence he was overseas and that he would not be paying the fine. Fleet Services told him he would have to send a letter to Telstra confirming the details. Shortly after the conversation with Telstra, the Police Department sent a fine to him as Telstra had nominated him as the driver of the vehicle at the time of the offence. The member has now returned the fine to the Police Department with a statutory declaration stating the facts and that Telstra knowingly filed a false declaration in nominating him as the driver. This sort of bureaucratic bungling is occurring in a company that makes multi-billion dollar profits and continues to decimate its work force, the results of which manifest itself in stuff ups like this. ENDS 230 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- C&W OPTUS Union makes gains over unfair sick leave by Mark Brownlow Sick leave for Optus employees is definitely limited, not unlimited, however it now seems that very few members know when they are likely to have reached their secret threshold. Recently the CEPU notified a dispute to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) regarding a member who had not been paid for a period of sick leave. Both the member and the CEPU had attempted to resolve the matter with both local and more senior management but to no avail. C&W Optus had used the provisions of the EPA regarding sick leave to deem the payment of further sick leave as being unreasonable. This member would only be able to take sick leave, which would be unpaid, if a medical certificate was provided. If a medical certificate was not provided then the leave would be unauthorised and disciplinary action could be implemented. Management argued that the continuing provision of paid sick leave was unreasonable due to the number of sick days that the member had taken over the course of the employment (over four years). There was no question as to the legitimacy of any of the previous sick leave, just the unreasonableness of it. The CEPU achieved an outcome in the AIRC proceedings that the member was satisfied with and there is now a plan in place where there will be some paid sick leave in the immediate future with a review further down the track. This case is not an isolated instance as the union has received many complaints regarding the application of the company's sick leave policy. While C&W Optus sick leave is not prescribed it is also not unlimited. Some refer to this type of policy as 'if the boss likes you, you get it if they don't like you, you don't'. There does appear to be thresholds operating where once a trigger point of a certain number of days is reached then sick leave is limited. Unfortunately for the majority of employees there is no understanding or explanation of what these thresholds are and the first time many employees become aware of them is when they are called in and have their paid sick leave limited or withdrawn. The CEPU will continue to take these matters to the AIRC where members believe that they have been unfairly treated. ENDS 380 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head-end merit case to go ahead by Ian McCarthy The Union has won a significant legal victory for its Head-end members with the Australian Industrial Relations Commission's decision for the case to proceed against the wishes of Telstra. For some time the CEPU has been fighting to obtain justice in the AIRC for CEPU members in the Broadband Cable Head-end in relation to their correct classification. Telstra had challenged both the 'allowability' of our claim and the 'jurisdiction' of the Commission to hear the CEPU's claim. Telstra's argument and the CEPU's response, were heard in the AIRC on September 15 with the decision being brought down on October 18. It covers some nineteen pages, but the bottom line is that the AIRC rejected Telstra's claims. They did, however, have twenty-one days to appeal the decision which could further delay the matter, so we did not publish the AIRC decision at that time. Once the appeal period expired, CEPU sought dates to have the "merit" (job upgrades) case heard. Due to a heavy AIRC workload the case will not be heard until February 23, 24 & 25 next year. Once that's heard, we'd expect a decision on the grades some weeks later, dependant on further Commission workload and how long it takes to write the decision. It has been a long time coming however the CEPU is hopeful of a resolution early next year. ENDS 230 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Millennium payments for Optus workers by Mark Brownlow Workers in C&W Optus, along with most other workers who are required to work on New Years Eve, are to receive bonus payments. The payments are structured so that a bonus of $300 is paid along with triple time for time worked and an additional payment of $50 dependent on the time that a shift starts. While these additional payments are welcome, the CEPU is of the view that they are not adequate to compensate those employees who will be required to work on New Years Eve. Any employee who is rostered to work should be receiving substantially more than that offered. This would ensure that they are adequately compensated for the additional inconvenience likely to be encountered in getting to and from work, not being able to participate in celebratory activities that are planned and the unknown impact of any Y2K problems. Members should register any concerns regarding the adequacy of the payment with both the CEPU and C&W Optus management. ENDS 170 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Union pushing for better holiday rates by Vivette Horrex Assistant Secretary Telstra will be rostering 5-hour shifts on Christmas Day for Operators and Consultants across all business units. There may be some areas where 7.21 or 8.10 hour shifts are offered but this will be on a voluntary basis. The rest of the public holiday shifts will be rostered 7.21 or 8.10 hour shifts whilst shorter shift lengths will only apply to part-time workers. The penalty rate on a public holiday is paid on the number of hours worked. Telstra Concession Day has been declared as December 31 even though the NSW State Government has declared the same day as a half day public holiday. Following union representation and widespread staff complaints Telstra management has now offered staff the option of choosing another half day holiday, at a convenient time after January 1. If members are rostered on they may be required to work the public holidays, and paid the applicable holiday penalty rate as per the award. If rostered off duty or on an RDO staff will not have to work the public holiday, and are entitled to either a day's payment or time off in lieu. The overtime rate on Public Holidays if eligible for overtime is at 250%. The table below outlines the public holidays and penalty payments applicable over the holiday period. For Award staff on call and the shift spans over midnight into the New Year, they will only receive award provisions and an additional $200. Staff who do not qualify for overtime (eg over AO5) will receive $250 if they work over midnight. TI&CS are offering a $500 payment for working New Years Eve. We understand that this will apply if staff commence duty after 10.30pm or before 6.30am (New Years Day). C&C still haven't confirmed any offer in writing. The CEPU has been calling on Telstra for many months to provide reasonable remuneration for all staff working over the New Year/Christmas break considering the impact of any Y2K problems. Telstra, however, have been very reluctant to negotiate or address any provisions for the Christmas break and the Olympic Games period. The CEPU is pursuing a claim for members required to work over the period 7.00pm on December 30 1999 to 7.00am on January 3, 2000. For non-award staff on contract who are not eligible for overtime pay, a payment of 2% of salary as a performance payment has been sought. In addition, the CEPU is concerned that Telstra has blanketed a non-leave period for members around the Olympic Games, as well as restrictions over the New Years Eve and Christmas period. The CEPU are still pursuing a claim for all members working over the New Year period. Members will be kept informed of any developments with these claims and should not hesitate to contact the Branch Office for any further information or details. (BOX below) Date Public holiday Penalty paid if worked Sat 25th Dec 1999 Christmas Day 150% or 50% * and 5 hour shift Sun 26th Dec 1999 Boxing Day 100%- Sunday Rate Mon 27th Dec 1999 Substitute day for Christmas Day 150% Tue 28th Dec 1999 Substitute Boxing Day 150% Wed 29th Dec 1999 Normal working day Normal rates Thur 30th Dec 1999 Normal working day Normal rates Fri 31st Dec 1999 Telstra Concession Day and 1/2 NSW Holiday 150% + $500 if applicable ** Sat 1st Jan 2000 New Years Day 50% Saturday Penalty Sun 2nd Jan 2000 Normal rate 100% -Sunday Rate Mon 3rd Jan 2000 New Years Day public Holiday substitute 150% * If staff work on Saturday 25th and Substitute Day Monday 27th, then a penalty payment of 150% applies only for the 27th, whilst the 25th will be the normal Saturday rate of 50%. If staff only work on one of these days, a penalty rate of 150% will apply for that day and the other day is treated as an RDO. ** New Years Eve Bonus Payments for Operators/ Consultants: Telstra has announced a financial remuneration for Award staff working on New Years Eve ie. a bonus payment on top of the 150% penalty payment, (if eligible) in most business units. ENDS 660 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Optus profits triple C&W Optus is no longer struggling along as the new kid on the block. Latest profit figures show that the UK-owned outpost of the giant Cable & Wireless conglomerate is doing very nicely. With revenue up 26% over the first half of the year, the corporation recorded a half-yearly profit of $135 million which compares strongly with its $38 million profit for the same period last year. With sales in the corporate sector increasing by 76% much of which is due to the burgeoning Internet market, the outlook for the company is very rosy indeed. The company's corporate debt is also dropping and shareholders and investors are looking forward to some very nice returns on their money. Too bad the same can't be said for its workers, who are after-all the people that actually produce the profits. C&W Optus continue to push a penny-pinching and non-co-operative attitude towards industrial relations within the company focusing on knocking off traditional and hard won conditions such as paid sick leave and overtime. ENDS 170 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UK call centre operators on strike British Telecom has been hit by its first national strike action in 13 years, with around 4,000 CWU operator members from 37 customer service centres across the UK downing tools on November 22 in protest at intolerable working conditions in BT centres which hinder their ability to give good customer service. The strike was the first of three national days of action which have been pencilled in, and was called by the Communications Workers' Union (UK) following the refusal of the company to act on a range of staff concerns involving stress, a bullying management style, unachievable targets and the widespread use of agency workers. Interestingly the issues are very smiler to that being experienced by customer contact staff in Australia. Since the November 22 day of action, BT have said they are ready to meet with the CWU to discuss the issues. Anger amongst BT call centre staff was demonstrated by a massive 81% ballot vote in favour of strike action. The strike, which achieved an almost 100% response in the targeted BT 150 and 151 call centres, represents the culmination of years of mounting frustration at a range of workplace issues within customer service centres, aggravated by the failure of BT to implement previous agreements with the CWU regarding the use of agency workers. These agency employees, many of whom are CWU members, are seriously disadvantaged compared with their colleagues with permanent BT contracts in terms of pay and conditions, pension rights and their treatment in redundancy situations. And while, due to present employment law, these members could not be balloted for industrial action since BT is not presumed to be their employer (even though many have worked continuously for the company for up to ten years) their plight has emerged as one of the principle concerns of their CWU colleagues with BT contracts. Another of the flashpoints leading to the vote for industrial action was fury at BT's imposition of call handling times under which CWU members face disciplinary action if they do not deal with individual customer calls within a fixed time - something which is inevitable given the complex nature of complaints sometimes received. CWU Deputy General Secretary Jeannie Drake said that if management are prepared to enter talks with the same constructive attitude as the union, there may not be a need to trigger the further day of action pencilled in for 10 December. "The members have shown their concern for all the issues we have raised on their behalf. If management will now treat the matter with equal seriousness, today will be an important one in shaping a new atmosphere and working conditions in all BT call centres." ENDS 460 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PROFIT OF DOOM NZ's great failure The recently completed election in NZ has revealed once and for all the appalling cost of failure when an entire society is used as a collective guinea pig. Over the last decade New Zealand has been the western world's laboratory for a radical experiment in labour relations. The former Labour Government followed by the National Government deregulated the labour market, thereby driving down wages supposedly with the intention of increasing employment and productivity. Individual contracts as envisaged by John Howard for Australia have come to dominate labour relations to the point where there are no effective minimum or national standards at work - nobody is protected and employers fundamentally get what they want. Many unions collapsed under financial and legal pressure including the telecommunications union. The Telecom workers that survived this assault now belong to the engineering union. Fortunately New Zealanders have responded just in the nick of time. Hopefully the new Labour/Alliance Government will implement its promises on bringing back a sane labour market with all the protections that workers need. Increased wages will also give the sick NZ economy the consumption and spending fillip it needs to lift the domestic market for it products. There is little doubt that today New Zealand is a lot worse off than Australia, an issue highlighted during the election campaign. In New Zealand: ¥ the economy is growing sluggishly ¥ unemployment is rising and is higher than in Australia ¥ job growth is slow ¥ income is growing more slowly (the AUD$ equivalent minimum wage is $235 a week and has increased by a bare 85 cents an hour since 1991) ¥ a third of individual contracts provide for no wage increase ¥ productivity growth is flat (0.5%) ¥ the gap between rich and poor is growing fast In Australia: ¥ the economy is growing steadily ¥ unemployment is dropping ¥ job growth is steady ¥ income is growing steadily (the minimum wage is $385.40 a week - and has increased $1.80 an hour since 1991) ¥ enterprise bargaining (collective agreements) has provided for regular wage increases of around 4% pa for the last 5 years ¥ productivity growth is around 3% ¥ the gap between rich and poor is increasing, but not as fast as in NZ ENDS 380 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Value in the Union? There sure is! by Mark Brownlow The NSW Branch recently became aware that Telstra was not paying members who were rostered to be On Call and then subsequently recalled for duty in accordance with the Customer Field Workforce Agreement (CFW). We took up this issue when a couple of members asked us about their entitlements. When we followed it up it became clear to the Branch that members were not being paid properly. It is worth noting that before coming to the union these members had done the seemingly right thing by checking with their respective team leaders. They were all told that there were no problems and that everyone was being paid their proper entitlements. Not true. After representations from the Branch, Telstra acknowledged that there is a problem and have agreed to do an audit of payments for all members on the On-Call rosters and to ensure that they are paid the on call allowance when they have been recalled whilst rostered. This process may take some time to complete but members in TBS who were on the NCV or Data On-Call rosters should receive unpaid allowances in the near future. The moral of this story is when in doubt check with the CEPU and don't necessarily take Telstra's word for it. Too often middle management simply can't be relied upon to do the right thing or haven't made themselves fully aware of the Agreement. ENDS 230 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIMOR Xanana thanks Australian unions by Ian McCarthy East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao has commended the work of the Australian union movement and its aid agency for their work in supporting the independence of his country. On a recent visit to Australia Mr Gusmao, who is expected to be the first East Timorese President, called on people to support the work of the ACTU's aid agency Apheda. "I commend the Australian union movement and its humanitarian aid agency Apheda ..... for your solidarity and support to our independence struggle and your ongoing commitment to supporting us in developing health, education, reconstruction and human rights programs. I call on Australian organisations and people of good will to support the work of Apheda for the advancement of the people of East Timor." Trade unions in Australia through a combination of rallies and industrial action led the push for urgent government action both before and after the August ballot for independence. That commitment has now turned into a focus on reconstruction with unions actively raising money, medicine and building materials for the reconstruction effort. Apheda's East Timorese Project Officer Alison Tate recently identified vocational training as a top priority for Apheda's ongoing programmes. "Training in areas like welding, construction, office skills and English language. Help through donations from union members will be used for these programs, " she said. ENDS 250 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Union members offered great computer deal Australian trade unionists are set to join the information age en masse, as a result of a ground breaking deal developed by the ACTU. For the ACTU the appearance of hundreds of thousands of computers in members' homes will have a huge impact on the distribution of information, according to the organisation's President Jennie George. "It's a huge vision for Australia which started with the ACTU's recognition that - in a society which relies on the computer and the Internet for information - ensuring all Australians have access to the online world is critical for their development and participation," Ms George said. Virtual Communities aims to redress the imbalance between the information rich and information poor, giving all Australians equal access to the Internet. Research from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed that at present 55% of Australian homes do not have a computer whilst 84% of homes have not got access to the Internet. The arrangement will initially offer approximately two million Australian union members and all Australian Retirement Fund members an IBM PC along with Internet access through Primus Telecom, education and training for as little as $9.50 per week. The ACTU believes that a large number of households without a home computer considered that computer costs were 'too high' for them to justify purchasing a home computer. And of the two million households with a computer but without Internet access, 30% reported high Internet connection costs as the main reason for their lack of access. The offer is immediately available to union members in three packages: The $9.50 per week IBM computer and Internet package (including software). The $11.50 per week education pack (including colour printer and education software). The $12.95 per week business package (including colour printer and additional education and business software). Each computer includes software for access to the Primus Telecom network, with 36 hours access in the first week, and 16 hours access per four week period thereafter. A special rate of 1 cent per minute applies for additional hours. All Virtual Communities offers are available for the nominated sum per week for 3.5 years, after which purchasers will own their computer package outright. Virtual Communities' call centre number is 131 789. ENDS 400 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Getting help over Christmas The CEPU Branch Office will close over the Christmas/New Year period. Members who require urgent assistance over the period can contact Branch officials on the following numbers: Ian McCarthy 0419 627 915 Gary Kennedy 0418 284 892 Vivette Horrex 0419 495 284 Mark Brownlow 0419 624 640 Guy Robins 0418 281 234 Mal Tulloch 0418 284 870 Kate Cotis 0419 620 106 The Branch Office will re-open for business on Tuesday, 4 January 2000. ENDS 100 sp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ziggy shrugs off shareholder worries by Ian McCarthy and Dale Keeling Telstra CEO Ziggy Switkowski had hardly waited for the voices of dissent to settle following the Telstra AGM, before making it clear that the commitments he had just given in front of 2,000 shareholders weren't worth a breath of his own wind. Despite telling his audience that he would look into shareholder/employee concerns about stressful work environments (particularly in Call Centres) and over centralisation of exchange maintenance, in a later interview Switkowski appeared to write off such issues as having come from 'special interest' groups. So much for the value of the much trumpeted employee shareholdings. Although the Liberal Government and corporate interests control over 80% of Telstra's shares (and voting is by shareholding not one person, one vote) the Telstra shareholders' organisation SHOT supported two candidates for the directors' election. Naturally they were defeated. Yet such developments must cause some disquiet if not downright embarrassment for senior management. One of the candidates was Merv Vogt, a Call Centre employee who had earlier been dismissed by Telstra management for the crime of distributing CEPU material on the job. His case was taken to the Industrial Relations Commission where he was exonerated and re-instated. The second independent candidate was a community shareholder, Ange Kenos. Although Switkowski told the meeting that 'We are no longer running the company on head-count targets,' he said that there would be more redundancies and cost-cutting. 'In order to increase customer service levels, we must do it in a most efficient way. So costs must come down and head-count numbers will follow,' he said. Criticism from the floor included a claim from Victorian technical officer Steve Horrigan (GOC Melbourne) that DIRECTOR was losing the corporation ' .... tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars ....you ought to come down to the Centre because we are not happy chappies down there,' he bluntly told the CEO. Switkowski's response was that he would look into the issue. Most complaints from the floor were dismissed. And John Howard's favourite job jockey Bob Mansfield, has popped up again after his Fairfax and ABC sojourns. The controversial former CEO of Optus and very briefly of the Fairfax Group, was elected to the board and will be nominated as Chairman shortly. And not to be forgotten - the top shareholders from whence the Directors come, voted themselves some handsome salary increases. On average they will each get about $57,692 up from $36,363. Increases in percentage terms will range from 51% to 58%. As a reward for doing exactly what the shareholders were not told, although it appears they did not have to suffer the indignity of job performance measurement. ENDS 480 sp