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CWU T&S WEEKLY BULLETIN NO 2021 / 22
6 June 2021

TAX TIME - UNION DUES ARE FULLY DEDUCTIBLE
Remember that all union fees are tax deductible. You may consider paying before 30 June if you wish to claim the fees in this financial year.

TAX TIME - WORKING FROM HOME
If you're an employee who works from home, you may be able to claim a deduction for expenses you incur relating to that work. These can be additional running expenses such as electricity, the decline in value of equipment or furniture and phone and internet expenses. There are three ways of calculating home office expenses depending on your circumstances. The methods are the: Shortcut method (80 cents/hour) - only available from 1 March 2020 to 30 June 2021, Fixed rate method (52 cents/hour) or Actual cost method. See Home office expenses | Australian Taxation Office

FLEXIBLE WORKING IN TELSTRA
In an interview with PWC, Alex Badenoch discussed the issue of the traditional workplace and the forced changes caused by Covid. She said:

    The second, particularly for us, is about pushing the boundaries or challenging some of the assumptions around agile and agile ways of working. I think historically people have felt that agile works when you're co-located and you can have your stand ups, you're all together. We've had to reimagine that and move to a virtual world of agile. And I think we've discovered that it works. In fact, it even works better if you get it right.

The full interview can be accessed at Alex Badenoch Future of Work Podcast (pwc.com.au)

POST SPF
Members have supported the various proposed agreements. We have drafted the documentation to be provided to the Fair Work Commission. We expect that the FWC statement will be available this week.

MIRAIT EBA
The EBA vote will take place Tuesday. With only a 2.5% pay rise covering 4 years, we cannot recommend acceptance of the proposed EBA. We will know the outcome late on Tuesday morning.

TELSTRA OPTICAL FIBRE
We have sought a review of the classification of CFW4 staff in NSW. The submission points out that the tasks undertaken are at least at the CFW5 level.

TRIPLE ZERO - START TIMES
We received the following answers to our questions. We note that these answers do not align with the way Sydney operates. Send us your experience (in confidence if necessary).

    1. Apart from the log-in and log-out times, what other form of recording actual start and finish times are being used?
    The Roster (Totalview) is the program used by the business to measure Start and Finish times. Supervisors monitor activity on the floor and have visibility of staff arriving to work.
    2. What is the time actually recorded as start of work? (Is it log in time or first call answered time)
    The time they arrive to collect their break sheet and mutually greet the supervisor/s.
    3. Does Telstra allow for any time worked before log in and after log out? If, so what is the procedure?
    Again, Telstra's position is that we expect employees to be at their desk come their start time and are not required to be at their desks prior to their start time (i.e. working during unpaid time). Overtime is paid if there is a requirement to take calls in addition to rostered hours. Agents are provided with time off phones for checking emails, reading notices, speaking to team leaders, completing timesheets, training, etc. during their shifts, however if there was a reason they needed to do this outside of their normal work hours they can speak to the supervisor on desk to request an update to their roster and if approved, they would be paid overtime for this period.
    4. What procedures are to be followed to ensure that staff have their full breaks - both paid and unpaid)?
    Managers on the floor check that employees are on their break at the required time. Centre dashboard shows what the required number of agents are at any given time and allows managers to see those not logged in when they are rostered to be.
    5. Have staff had wages deducted for being late by less than 9 minutes?
    Lateness greater than 10 minutes is automatically populated in the timesheet with the applicable leave type for payment purposes (unless it is endorsed by the manager for this to be waived). No Workday entries are required for lateness less than 10 minutes. If there are examples of this occurring please let us know and we would be happy to look into it further.

TRIPLE ZERO - PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS
We received a detailed response to our questions which need some analysis. The response in full is available to members. We will need your comments.

ACTU - OHS SURVEY
Australian Unions are running this survey to better understand your experiences of health and safety in your workplace. It covers topics about how work is managed. This is your chance to have your say and share your experiences. Whatever you say will be treated with the strictest of confidence. The results will be used in our campaigns and ongoing work with research partners to protect the rights of all workers to a safe and healthy workplace.
TAKE THE SURVEY


USEFUL QUICK LINKS

  • Transferring to Telstra subsidiaries
  • Forced ARL Fact Sheet
  • Forced LSL Fact Sheet
  • Telstra EBA Notes
  • Telstra EBA19 Undertakings
  • Superannuation Fact Sheet
  • Optus EBA18
  • Post EBA9

  • 0428 942 878 dan.dwyer@cwunion.net Dan Dwyer
    Secretary/Lawyer - industrial matters & advice
  • 0447 365 433 reception@cwunion.net Administrative
    eg payments, applications, change of details
  • Authorised by Dan Dwyer Branch Secretary
    CWU Telecommunications & Services Branch, Sydney City, NSW.



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