Dear Member,
EBA18 - IS INDUSTRIAL ACTION INEVITABLE?
No. The ability of union members to take industrial action significantly improves our Union bargaining power. It is all about bargaining power. Bargaining power is usually enough to get a fair agreement. The threat of industrial action is a powerful power to have. Particularly when the threat is real and the action is potentially effective. These days, highly targeted industrial action, not across the board action, can be very effective. Our Branch will press the union to prepare for action, and hope that Telstra read the mood of staff and offer fair terms and conditions.
AWA MEMBERS CAN TAKE INDUSTRIAL ACTION
We have many AWA members. For many years you could not get a job with Telstra unless you signed an AWA. While the AWAs expired many years ago they remain in force. Telstra see the AWA members as potential strike breakers because the AWA members cannot, by law, easily join a union strike (Thanks to Workchoices). We will develop a kit to assist AWA members to join other workers and/or refuse to do the work of non AWA workers. It is a legal minefield to do this without union assistance. Watch for our kit.
POSTAL REDUNDANCY ISSUE
We have an issue with the calculation of Redundancy benefits in Aus Post. The dispute resolves around the calculation of salary for redundancy purposes. We believe that Post is using a method that can reduce the redundancy benefit by many hundreds of dollars. Legal action is being considered. Members considering redundancy should contact us.
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