Telstra staff reject pay deal
By Mike Andrews
BRISBANE — Despite management's campaign of intimidation against them, on November 25, 59% of Telstra workers voted to reject a proposed enterprise agreement which would have drastically reduced their work conditions and pay.
The vote is a big win for Telstra staff, who sent a clear message that they wish to continue negotiating collectively through their unions. The vote has also given them the confidence to demand a better deal from Australia's largest company.
Management has remained tight-lipped about the result, except for a December 16 letter sent to employees' homes thanking them for their participation in the discussions. "The process was a challenge for us all because it was the first time that we asked you directly for your views, without the agreement of the unions, on an issue which directly affected you", the letter stated.
The proposed agreement, put directly to 12,000 Telstra staff, was supposedly aimed at simplifying and streamlining the company's pay structures for their customer contact work force, and bringing employees' pay and conditions into line with call centre industry standards.
Staff were told at management-organised "roadshows" that a survey commissioned by Telstra to explore pay and conditions in a broad cross-section of call centres in other industries showed that Telstra is paying its staff too highly and that, for the company to remain competitive, the pay system needed restructuring.
When questioned about which other call centres were targeted by the survey, management was unable or unwilling to respond. This same reasoning did not apply to Telstra's directors, who voted themselves a staggering $400,000 increase in directors' fees at their last annual general meeting.
The customer contact work force agreement proposed to scrap the incremental pay bands for call centre staff and replace them with a company rate. Staff currently earning below the proposed company rate would receive a 4% pay rise on December 23, followed by a further increase on July 1. Staff earning above the company rate would have their pay cut, but would receive a compensatory lump-sum payment in July and a promise of a further lump sum in July 2001.
The alternative to the proposed agreement was a 2% pay rise on December 23 under the existing agreement, with present increments remaining in place.
The two unions representing staff in negotiations, the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union and the Community and Public Sector Union, both withdrew from talks when it became apparent that Telstra was unprepared to negotiate on any part of the agreement. Both recommended a "no" vote, but ran minimal campaigns against the agreement.
The Telstra bosses were so confident that staff would endorse the agreement that they went ahead with the November 25 vote anyway, putting the proposal directly to all employees. They accompanied their offer with threats that a "no" vote would lead to further job losses and outsourcing. Telstra CEO Ziggy Switkowski is already on record endorsing a further reduction in Telstra's work force, from 50,000 to 25,000, which could only be achieved through massive outsourcing and casualisation.
Management's attempts at intimidation included removing union literature from noticeboards in some areas, denying staff access to union organisers to discuss the "no" campaign and taking down the names of staff attending union meetings in their lunchbreaks — all to no avail.