Telstra employees are understandably alarmed by the kite flying by Darren Fewster, Executive Director HR at Telstra, regarding suggestions that LSL may be rostered in the same way as ARL is.

You can rest assured that this is simply a ploy to run the idea up the flag pole ahead of this year's EBA negotiations and see who salutes. From all reports the idea has been widely criticised by one and all. Loyal staff, who are constantly under the threat of having their job taken from them, understandably rely on the LSL provisions in the EBA 1025-2018 as a fall back if they find themselves out of a job or simply need additional time to do things that they need to do, like take a long holiday or attend to personal matters.

This union will resist all attempts to change the way LSL is administered. It has always been at the discretion of the employee if and when you take this form of leave, unlike the other leave provisions in the EBA. EBA 2015-2018 states in clause 36.2 that;"...details of your long service leave entitlement are set out in Telstra policy and in the Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976. This Act: a) will apply to you until this Agreement is terminated or replaced." (my emphasis)

In other words the status quo will apply until Telstra can force a change onto its employees in the next EBA and judging by the response to Darren Fewster's email, employees are telling him politely to get lost as this is unlikely to happen.

The fact that Telstra has a reported $700m LSL liability is of management's making alone and it is their responsibility not that of the staff. A prudent organisation that had sufficient staff to handle the workload would encourage staff to consider taking LSL when it became available but Telstra management are always looking to trim the bottom line at their employees expense.

What you can do

• To begin with staff should continue to push back on this proposal. Let you team manager know, politely but strongly, that you oppose any change to the LSL policy.
• Let us know immediately if you receive any unwanted pressure from managers and we will act accordingly.
• Fill in the union survey sent to members and help us identify which issues are of key importance to you so that when EBA negotiations start we know what is non-negotiable.

Authorised by Alex Jansen State Secretary
CWU Telecommunications & Services Branch