OPTUS ANNUAL LEAVE
This week Optus began a "take annual leave" campaign. If you read it carefully, it is simply a request. It must be a request as Optus has no legal right to make you take the leave outlined in their email. Optus could make an application under new JobKeeper legislation, but has not done so (to our knowledge). We have written to Optus seeking that Optus makes it clear that it is simply a request, and cannot be enforced.

We have pointed out that we do not complain about a simple request to take leave. Some staff may feel that loyalty works both ways at Optus and that they must do something to boost the profits of Optus. But we do not support a veiled threat that you must take leave.

OPTUS REQUEST TO TAKE LEAVE
The email from Optus stated (in part):

For FY21, we ask the following:
+ Take at least one week annual leave by 31 July 2020. Considering that school holidays occur in all states in July, think of it as a version of taking one week for `Christmas in July' with your family or friends!
+ Take the Summer break because it gives us time to rest and manage company costs. This year the shutdown will be Thursday 24 December 2019 to Friday 8 January 2020 inclusive.
+ Use your full FY21 Annual Leave allocation by the end of the financial year. + Ensure your leave balance is less than 10 days by 31 March 2021 so those with high accrued leave balances need to work on a plan with your leader to reduce leave.
+ We strongly encourage everyone to book their leave into HRCentral by the end of May so we can monitor that we are on track.

OPTUS ANNUAL LEAVE -WHAT TO DO?
Do nothing. If pressured by management or told that it is a requirement that you take leave - write down immediately what was said (Optus will not put it in writing), see if there is a witness, and keep it. If you need advice, report it to us. It is a breach of the Fair Work Act to knowingly make a misleading statement or to coerce a person to take or not take a workplace right.

TELSTRA FORCED ANNUAL LEAVE
Telstra has responded to our letter in the last bulletin. Essentially Telstra do agrees that it is voluntary. However Telstra appeals to you to help their profits (balance sheet). What is clear is that local team leaders are being pressured to force the issue.

If pressured by management or told that it is a requirement that you take leave - write down immediately what was said. Keep any emails. See if there is a witness and note their names. Keep the information for a rainy day. If you need advice, report it to us. It is a breach of the Fair Work Act to knowingly make a misleading statement or to coerce a person to take or not take a workplace right.

POST SPF SURVEY
The working party has been meeting and will meet again this Wed. Little progress has been made as the new scheme is complex, has data errors, is changing and is not operating evenly across the workforce. Post want a scheme based on Offers. We say the old scheme based on overtime actually worked is far better. Please respond to our email survey.

TELSTRA RESPONSE

As we have discussed previously in my email of 8th April 2020 Telstra has been upfront with our employees that we need to take reasonable steps to manage our costs and reduce unnecessary demand on our services during these challenging times. The expectation is that all permanent employees take 2 weeks leave between now and September (inclusive of the Easter Shutdown). In that same email I responded to a number of questions that you raised and my answers still stand, specifically for the purposes of this email my response our 8/9 day fortnight and 12 hour shift employees remains unchanged.

That being said I have investigated the issue you raised on Wednesday (29th April). I have been advised that the email you referenced from Wayne Lee was directed to his leadership team. The purpose of this email was to prepare for a follow up meeting (subsequently held on Wednesday the 29th) with the whole team where a number of items were clarified and talked through, this was the reason for his general statement of `10 days leave' rather than listing specific details.

Furthermore any inconsistent messaging and misunderstandings arising from Nelson Leclair's email was comprehensively addressed in the Wednesday meeting (presumably at or around the time you emailed me your concerns). Additionally I have been advised that Wayne and the team have already discussed and dealt with a number of individual concerns/exemptions.

I encourage you to reach out to your members and confirm their latest understanding following the Wednesday team meeting. As always I am happy to address any individual employee concerns should you wish to raise them with me.

TELSTRA 9 DAY FORTNIGHT - LEAVE
Despite local directions, Telstra HQ confirmed that it is 2 weeks leave, not 10 working days that is being requested. Their response is clear.

In that same email I responded to a number of questions that you raised and my answers still stand, specifically for the purposes of this email my response our 8/9 day fortnight and 12 hour shift employees remains unchanged.

The original advice from Telstra stated

8/9 day fortnight and 12 hour shift: I acknowledge that we need to be clear on this point so I will be updating the company FAQ's shortly to reflect that: - 9 day fortnight employees will only need to take 9 days leave over the 2 weeks between now and September.

TA AND BANK ACCOUNTS
Last week we reported the payroll changes to TA. We followed up and received these explanations:
Q. Can the 3 accounts allowed be organised so that members can elect to direct TA payments to one of them?
Q. Obviously the system is working now so why is there a change?
Q. If they currently have an account, can it remain?

A. In this case it is helpful if I provide some background. In Aug of last year Telstra implemented a new HRIS system (Workday). One of the underlying principles of this solution was to maintain the system `out of the box', this is in contrast to PEX (Workday's predecessor) which allowed for multiple alterations to the system. One of the things that `lost' functionality was the number and types of bank accounts that Workday would support. This was known at the time and was widely communicated. Ultimately there is no functionality in Workday that allows Telstra to easily perform maintenance/update activity on legacy TA bank accounts. This means that although they could be used up until now, any future changes an employee makes to their bank record will mean that the TA account is corrupted, the result of which employees are not paid their cash reimbursement or TA (please note a manual process then kicks in to ensure the employees are paid). This manual intervention is not a sustainable practice and a decision has been made to automate the process as per the design principles.

A. I am afraid that the intent is to pay into main bank accounts from now on. The reason for this is that employees can go in at any time and change the details of their main bank account, and it is at this point the failure of the legacy TA bank account occurs. This is an automatic consequence of Workday not supporting the variety of bank account types that PEX could. It is not a specific decision we have made to configure into the system - it is simply a result of changing HRIS systems to a `vanilla' solution with less functionality. Accounting/Payroll have no visibility of when this happens and failure to pay an employee's TA/Cash reimbursement is inevitable. To avoid this happening to employees, and the resulting manual tracing/reprocessing of unpaid reimbursements, we are now paying all TA/Cash Reimbursements straight into an employee's main bank account.

SUPERANNUATION PART 4

Accumulation Funds: Most members will have a full or partial accumulation fund. It is a lump sum scheme. The lump sum is paid when you exit the scheme. The balance to be paid to you will vary from day to day. You can access your fund via the internet and see your daily balance. The variation is caused primarily because you will have exposure to shares. Most funds have a "balanced option" and many use this option. This is generally expressed as investment in equal parts in three areas - shares (equities), property and cash. You have the ability to change the allocation between shares, property and cash. With cash rates "Interest" is very low at the moment this is not seen as a good investment, but is a very safe option. On the other hand, over the past years, the shares have returned 7-8% per annum. However, the share market carries more risk and it dived in recent months. Many (of us) increased our share percentage because of the good returns. More next week.

VIP - CONTACTING US - NEW PHONE NUMBER
Please note the following changes as we simplify our phone numbers
0428 942 878 dan.dwyer@cwunion.net Dan Dwyer Secretary/Lawyer - for industrial matters & advice
0447 365 443 reception@cwunion.net Administrative eg payments, applications, change of details

Authorised by Dan Dwyer Branch Secretary
CWU Telecommunications & Services Branch, Sydney City, NSW.