CEPU : Connecting our community

Telstra non-union deals are a bad deal for you

(15 January, 2009): Telstra management is continuing to try to roll out their third rate ECA in various parts of Telstra.

What is wrong with their ECA?

The following summarises the problems:

  • The pay increase on offer is less than the cost of living and ignores the fact that Telstra has not paid EBA employees an increase since September 2007. What is more, that 12 to 15 months period has witnessed large increases in the cost of living for workers and their families. Therefore a 4.5% increase as the 1st increase in the offer is not enough. Especially when measured against the remuneration, and pay increases applying to the CEO and other managers of the company.
  • The management is denying you the right to have arbitration of any disputes with Telstra. This, a right which has been considered to be an inalienable right of Australian workers since Federation. The Howard Government took that right away from Australian workers and we need to get an arbitration clause in our EBA to restore that basic right. Telstra management want to hang on to "WorkChoices".
  • Various clauses in the ECA will allow management to downgrade your job classification, change your hours of duty, your daily span of hours, and the days in the week in which you work, with few counterbalances.
  • When this non union agreement expires you will not be provided any opportunity to negotiate a new agreement because the union will be excluded. If you are offered a new agreement it will be on a take it or leave it basis.
  • Because it is a non union agreement there will be huge barriers to any effective union representation on your behalf, during the life of the agreement.
  • There is absolutely no regulation of Telstra's performance pay systems or their performance management system.
  • The Part A/Part B structure means two classes of workers, and as sure as night follows day the more expensive Part A employees will be managed out of the company (without redundancy pay) in favour of the cheaper Part B employees.

 

Yes, we know you are angry about Telstra management.

And so you should be.

All this, while denying you the right to have a union-negotiated agreement.