CWU T&S WEEKLY BULLETIN NO 2020 / 39
11 Oct 2020
COMMENT - WORKING FROM HOME
One thing about working from home - You notice the postman! However the new scheme where mail is delivered every second day is interesting. We appeared to not get a delivery last Friday. Then we had a (NSW) public holiday on Monday the next delivery day - so no delivery. So Tuesday is a no delivery day again. It's amazing how second day delivery became a gap of 5 days!
MORE TELSTRA REDUNDANCIES
This week Telstra advised of its initial decision to cut more front line staff. They include
+ Role reductions in our Global Business Services (GBS) and InfraCo teams where work is either stopping or declining in volume due to the NBN rollout
+ Moving the Network and Infrastructure Engineering (N&IE) group in Networks & IT to an Agile at Scale model
+ Introducing two new cross-company chapter areas.
GBS: Field Service Delivery - A net reduction of 100 field delivery roles nationally
GBS: Customer Service Centres: HFC volumes continue to decline as per NBN Co forecasts. As a result it is proposed that the team supporting HFC volumes will reduce by 19 FTE over the period to June 2021,
InfraCo: As build activities complete, much of the network build workforce will no longer be required. A reduction of 376 roles is proposed, occurring from November 2020 through to June 2021:
Network and Infrastructure Engineering
As part of Agile at Scale ways of working, N&IE proposes to move into full group and chapter logic. As we continue maturing our ways of working and operating model, we will create two chapter areas that will serve all functions - Ways of Working (WOW) & Program Delivery and Process. These chapter areas will bring together people with specialist skills and experience from across the business and will help to ensure we have consistent tools, practices and development experiences across these areas.
A consultation meeting is planned for Monday 12 Oct where we will seek further details. Please contact us with your further questions.
N&IE ROLES
We have had some calls from members with questions. Part of the above appears to be a restructure the area. New roles are being created and expressions of interest are to be sought. This looks like a classic spill and fill. Obviously there must be redundancies and redeployments. Telstra have not provided details. A consultation meeting is planned for Monday 12 Oct where we will seek further details. Please contact us with your further questions.
TELSTRA OUTSOURCING AGAIN
Telstra advised of an initial decision to introduce changes to the Perth Satellite Operations team in the Networks & IT functional unit. Under this proposal, the business will move the satellite service monitoring function currently undertaken at the Perth teleport to the N&IT L2 Singapore NOC.
POST PAY INCREASE
About this time Post employees are due for a pay rise. There will be none. We remind you of a controversial decision by some branches of CEPU taken several months ago.
See our Bulletin No 28
The MOU places a number of conditions upon the Union as a whole. These include:
A further halt to the stop/start EBA bargaining for a period of 12 months (i.e. until 9 August 2021).
+ No pay rises in that period.
+ No opposition to the every second day delivery proposal.
+ No industrial action, protected or unprotected, until 9 August 2021.
See the Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU)
POST EBA - BARGAINING AGENTS SEEKING TALKS FOR TECHS
CEPU has agreed to delay bargaining for a year. However does not bind bargaining agents. Once again several members have appointed themselves as bargaining agents to negotiate on behalf of technical members. This is a special provision in the FW Act. Other staff can then appoint those agents as their bargaining agent (instead of CEPU).
The CPSU also is demanding bargaining now and has taken Post to the FWC, CPSU and bargaining agents are not bound by the MOU.
NBN WELL PAID - BUT NOT TECHS - EXTRACT FROM SMH
More than 850 employees at the national broadband network are paid above $200,000 a year with more than three-quarters of its workforce earning six-figure salaries, new data has revealed, amid growing scrutiny from the federal government on public sector wages. The $51 billion taxpayer-funded organisation, under fire for paying bonuses to its executive team during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, has confirmed 110 of its workers are paid between $300,000 and $400,000 and 34 received base salaries above $400,000 before bonuses.
The NBN Co, led by chief executive Stephen Rue, pays three-quarters of its staff six-figure base salaries. It can also be revealed NBN Co spent $265,000 on entertainment and function expenses between Feb and Jun at the height of the coronavirus pandemic this year when millions of Australians were unable to travel, socialise in groups or go to restaurants and cafes.
The NBN Co was given an extra $4.5 billion in the federal budget on Tuesday for an upgrade by 2023 to improve the speeds available. Another $29.2 million was provided to accelerate the rollout of ultra-fast 5G mobile networks.
New figures, provided to a Senate committee, show that as of September 9 this year 4859 of its 6300 employees were paid in excess of $100,000 a year, including 733 workers on salaries worth between $200,000 and $300,000. An NBN Co spokesman said staff were employed under individually negotiated contracts, enterprise agreements and other commercial arrangements.
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Secretary/Lawyer - industrial matters & advice eg payments, applications, change of details |
Authorised by Dan Dwyer Branch Secretary
CWU Telecommunications & Services Branch, Sydney City, NSW.
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2020