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CWU: Your Voice in Enterprise Bargaining |
4 April 2102: Telstra Bargaining Update #1
On 4 April the Telstra unions met with Telstra to table the issues which both parties regard as central to negotiation of a new Enterprise Agreement (EA).
The CWU was represented by a bargaining team endorsed by the union's Telecoms Council at its meeting of 22-23 March. It consists of Divisional President, Len Cooper, Divisional Assistant Secretary, Ken Hardisty and three state branch officials: Shane Murphy and Alex Jansen from New South Wales and Steve Butterworth from South Australia.
The other unions represented in the unions Single Bargaining Unit (SBU) are the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) and the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA).
CWU key objectives.
At the meeting the CWU outlined what we believe should be basic objectives of the agreement:
The CWU also flagged a number of specific issues raised by members in surveys and face-to-face meetings such as improved ability to purchase leave and incorporating travel entitlements into the agreement.
Core conditions to continue.
Telstra has indicated that it will not be proposing any significant changes to what CWU members say they regard as core conditions e.g.
The CWU welcomes this recognition by Telstra of the value its employees put on these entitlements.
One simple agreement.
As previously reported, Telstra has indicated that it wants to simplify its current industrial arrangements and to bring the great majority of its employees onto one agreement.
The unions support this objective as long as it does not involve any downgrading of core conditions or wage levels through a "lowest common denominator" approach.
One of the obvious areas of difficulty will be the different approach to wage rates and total pay between those currently on collective agreements (ECAs and the EA) and those on individual contracts (AWAs, ITEAs) as well as the differences between Category 1 and 2/ Parts A and B within the collective agreements.
What is basically at issue here is how much of any employee's pay will be guaranteed and how much (if any) will be tied to individual performance.
The other key (and related) difference between the current terms of employment is in the approach to job classifications/banding. Category 1/Part A classification structures in the collective agreements are based on union-negotiated job descriptions -Category 2/Part B structures are not.
Reconciling the two structures -if possible - and bringing them up to date will be a difficult and time consuming process.
Next steps.
At this stage, however, Telstra and the unions are not actually negotiating over these questions. The parties are simply committing to developing an agreed way of handling these issues and drawing up a timetable to do so.
Telstra and the SBU will meet again on 26 April.
Telstra EA: key issues tabled
On 4 April the CWU and other Telstra unions met with Telstra to table the issues which the parties regard as central to negotiation of a new Enterprise Agreement (EA).
The CWU was represented by a bargaining team endorsed by the union's Telecoms Council at its meeting of 22-23 March. It consists of Divisional President, Len Cooper, Divisional Assistant Secretary, Ken Hardisty and three state branch officials: Shane Murphy and Alex Jansen from New South Wales and Steve Butterworth from South Australia.
In E-bulletin #5 we reported on feedback the CWU had received from members about their priorities for this round of bargaining. Overwhelmingly members said that protection of core conditions such a redundancy entitlements, hours of work, leave arrangements and dispute settlement provisions were high on their list.
Telstra has now said that it does not propose any significant change in these areas - a position that will be welcomed by all employees.
However, that does not mean that the coming negotiations are going to be easy.
While both sides have said they want to replace the current array of individual and collective agreements in Telstra with one EA, this means dealing with the present pay disparities between EAs and ECAs in a way that is fair. It is also likely to involve an overhaul of the current classification systems - a large task if it is to be done properly.
At the 4 April meeting the CWU outlined the basic objectives that it believes should underpin any such exercise:
The next meeting will be considering how best to proceed with these issues and attempting to establish an overall timetable for negotiations. Members will be kept advised of developments.
CWU meets with Telstra on remote localities
The CWU Divisional Office met with Telstra on 30 March in relation to the company's decision to sell its housing in remote localities.
As reported in E-bulletin #4, the issue was first raised by the CWU's Western Australian branch after members reported the decision and asked what it might mean for employee housing costs in future.
The cost of housing, including rentals, has risen sharply in many remote areas as a result of the mining boom and the CWU has been concerned that the sale of Telstra housing could expose members to such costs.
At the meeting on 30 March Telstra informed the CWU that under the sale arrangements it will have lease-back rights on the properties for five years with ongoing options for lease extensions. Telstra believes these arrangements should ensure that there is no significant change to members' current conditions.
The CWU nevertheless requested that a detailed explanation of the proposal be provided to the union so that we could make our own assessment of what impact it might have on members.
As no response was subsequently received, the CWU has made a further representation to Telstra who have now undertaken to respond as a matter of urgency.
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