Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia

 

    ELECTION NOTICE

 Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009

 

The Australian Electoral Commission is to conduct elections for offices in the Communications, Electrical, Electronic, Energy, Information, Postal, Plumbing and Allied Services Union of Australia.

COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION

Nominations are called for:

 Divisional Offices

 New South Wales Postal and Telecommunications Branch

 New South Wales Telecommunications and Services Branch

 Victoria Postal and Telecommunications Branch

 Victoria Telecommunications and Services Branch

 Queensland Communications Divisional Branch

 South Australia and Northern Territory Communications Branch

Western Australia Communications Branch

 Tasmania Communications Branch

 

Notices calling for nominations will appear on the websites of the Australian Electoral Commission (www.aec.gov.au) and the Union (www.cepu.asn.au) from 18 April 2011.

 

A copy of the election notice and nomination form is available upon request from any of the Returning Officers listed below or the Branch Offices of the Union.

 

Intending candidates should consult the Union’s rules for eligibility requirements.

 

Nominations will open on 18 April 2011 and close at 12 noon (local time) on Wednesday 11 May 2011.

 

The ballot, if required, will open on 15 June 2011 and close at 12 noon (local time) on Wednesday 13 July 2011. Changed address? Advise the union now.

 

Note: Copies of the AEC’s election reports can be obtained from the organisation or the Returning Officer after the completion of the election.

 

Returning Officers: 

Lee Jones                    New South Wales                    02 9375 6361

Danielle Paterson        Victoria                                     03 9285 7146

Cameron Stokes         Queensland                              07 3413 0402

Peter Verkerk               South Australia / NT                 08 8131 0127

Carl Binning                  Western Australia                    08 9309 3975

Michael Horwood          Tasmania                                 03 6235 0509

 

Authorised by Danielle Paterson

Melbourne
 

18 April 2011

Victoria Postal and Telecommunications Branch

Returning Officer – Danielle Paterson

 

Branch President

Branch Secretary

Branch Organiser (3)

Branch Vice President (2)

 

Postal Industry Section

Divisional Executive Member

Branch Committee of Management Member (8)

Divisional Conference Delegate (3)

 

Lines and General Industry Section

Divisional Executive Member

Branch Committee of Management Member (3)

Divisional Conference Delegate

Divisional Offices

Returning Officer – Danielle Paterson

 

Divisional President

Divisional Secretary

Divisional Assistant Secretary (Postal)

Divisional Assistant Secretary (Telecommunications)

Divisional Vice President

Divisional Vice President (Affirmative Action)

A recent decision by Fair Work Australia over the operation of the Telstra dispute resolution process represents a win for the CWUnion and for common sense.

As reported in E-bulletin #5, the union has been in dispute with Telstra over provisions of the new Enterprise Agreement which allow employees to purchase additional annual leave. The union believes this a clear entitlement; Telstra believes it has some discretion on the matter and has said it is too expensive to implement immediately.

After discussions with Telstra failed to resolve the matter, the CWUnion applied to Fair Work Australia to have the dispute arbitrated. Telstra opposed the application, arguing that the union had not gone through all the steps required by the new dispute resolution clause in the EA.

Fair Work Australia has now ruled that although the CWUnion had not strictly complied with all the steps in the dispute resolution process it was not in fact necessary to do so as it was clear that the dispute could not be resolved at some of the lower levels of the dispute “hierarchy”.

In particular, as middle management could not change what was said to be Telstra policy, escalating the dispute through this level was pointless. This is a commonsense approach which recognises that in some circumstances all the process does is delay rather than assist dispute resolution.

FWA determined that as long as the CWUnion properly complied with Step 3 of the process, which involves engaging with senior management on the issue, the matter could be referred to arbitration in the event of no agreement being reached.

As the CWUnion expected, Telstra has appealed this decision and requested that arbitration of the purchase of leave issue be deferred until the appeal is heard. CWUnion will oppose this manoeuvre which it regards as simply another way of avoiding the real issue: members’ entitlements.

Australia Post has apologised for the use of unroadworthy postal bikes at Palmerston in the Northern Territory in 2008. The apology was made before a finding in the Federal Court that Australia Post had breached its duties to employees and a contractor for the use of the bikes.

Following civil proceedings by Comcare, the federal work health and safety regulator, Australia Post was fined $95,000 for having a total of six unroadworthy bikes at its
Palmerston Delivery Centre in May of that year.

A Comcare investigation also found that workers at the Centre had not been properly trained in their responsibilities regarding Australia Post’s procedures for motorcycle pre-ride inspection and maintenance.

Comcare’s Work Health and Safety Group General Manager, Neil Quarmby acknowledged the cooperation received from Australia Post during the investigation and the apology for its safety breach. He said that it was not enough for employers to have good work health and safety systems. They have to make sure that the systems work on-the-ground to prevent harm to workers.

The Court’s reasons for the ruling will be handed down at a later date.

The way the National Broadband Network roll-out will proceed has been thrown into question by NBN Co’s decision to suspend its construction tender.

The move triggered the resignation of the company’s construction head, Patrick Flannigan, amid initial press suggestions of contract or “price gouging” and NBN Co “incompetence” in managing the tender.

Later commentary, however, has focussed on problems more fundamental to the tender process itself, particularly NBN Co’s desire that the contractors bidding for the project carry virtually all the risk for what is a high-risk project.

Risk is a cost to the contractors because it affects the cost of their borrowings. When these costs are built into construction budgets they may produce numbers much larger than those NBN Co and the federal government anticipated.

NBN Co is talking to providers – some reports say only one – about ways to bring the project in on budget. But with the government ruling out any further direct funding of the roll-out, the NBN network design, reach and timetable may all now have to be re-examined.

The CWUnion met with NBN Co on 5 April to get an update on recent NBN Co activities. While the union expressed concern about the impacts of the tender decisions on the wider industry workforce, it is confident that the conditions it negotiated for directly employed NBN Co employees remain secure.

The CWUnion has recently taken up an issue of adverse discrimination and bullying by Australia Post management for a member. The behaviour complained of includes management isolating and refusing to communicate with the member. Such behaviours are inconsistent with an employee’s right to be treated fairly and objectively as well as being inconsistent with Australia Post’s own “Our Ethics” policy.

Discrimination and bullying is also an occupational health and safety issue - everyone is entitled to a safe and secure workplace free of harassment and discrimination.

In the union’s view discrimination and bullying is a serious issue in the workplace and employers cannot shirk their responsibility and turn a blind eye.

New penalties for workplace bullying are to be introduced by the Victorian Government this week. These laws will hopefully help deter people from undesired behaviour but employers must be accountable for providing safe workplaces in which bullying does not occur in the first place. Ultimate responsibility for providing a safe workplace is with the employer.

Victoria’s amendments will add workplace and cyber bullying to Victoria’s Crimes Act.
Workers wanting advice about workplace bullying can contact their Union organiser or branch.

CWUnion officials have rejected suggestions that NBN contract prices may have reflected inflated wage claims, describing such reports as a “beat-up”.

On 4 April, well-known business commentator Alan Kohler , writing in the on-line newsletter, Business Spectator, suggested that NBN Co might be the “meat in the sandwich” between the government and unions looking to set new wage benchmarks as he said had occurred on the Victorian desalination plant project.

By 6 April, this idea had become reality with Business Spectator reporting that “NBN Co is currently struggling to contain labour costs by cancelling the nine month tendering project”.

But as CWUnion assistant secretary, Burt Blackburne, has pointed out, the NBN bids were made last year on the basis of current labour costs and current market rates, not on the basis of any new “benchmark” claims made by unions.

“My understanding is that any of the tender documents were already in prior to any proposals that we put forward for a framework agreement ,” he said, “so I think it’s a bit after the event! I just think this is a bit of a beat-up.”

CWUnion will of course be seeking to conclude agreements with the contracting companies working on the NBN roll-out and to renew existing ones when they expire. The union will work to ensure that those agreements contain pay rates that properly reflect the importance of the role NBN workers will play in the project.

But as the blame game over the NBN tender process continues, commentators should look elsewhere for the explanation for higher-than- expected bid prices.

The CWUnion Qld Branch recently surveyed its members at Australia Post’s call centre in the Roma Street Transit Centre, Brisbane regarding the unilateral changes made to inbound and outbound employee KPIs by the Post call centre management.

Overwhelmingly members expressed the view that the 17 -21 minutes a day allowed for call overruns, toilet breaks, sending and checking emails, discussions with colleagues and supervisors etc is totally inadequate; the 20 – 30 seconds allowed for follow-up after call work is totally inadequate; the 5% limit imposed on the number of inbound inquiries that may be logged in order to be dealt with more fully later is totally inadequate; and the taking of customer calls in two hour blocks without a break away from the telephone and screen is totally inadequate.

Furthermore, members complained of being treated like robots, regularly pestered to lift performance, bullied into divulging personal information when off sick, given no time away from the telephone following an abusive call, and being disciplined for commencing a break late because they are still handling a customer call! Moreover members complained of eye strain, frequent headaches; sore back, neck, arm, shoulder and wrist, sore throat and stress and anxiety.

The survey responses are being collated by the CWUnion Organiser Suzi Wharton and complaints will be raised with Australia Post in the first instance. In the interim the CWUnion has unformed Australia Post of the obligation under its own policies to provide a 10 minute break on completion of 50 minutes of continuous screen based equipment operation. In all too typical Post fashion adherence to breaks by Post management is dismissed without any regard for the OHS implications of same on employees.

Telstra has told media and analysts that it expects to consolidate its call centre operations further.

The move was flagged at a briefing given at the company’s new call centre operation at Docklands, Melbourne, and follows the controversial decision not to renew contracts with outsourcing providers Salmat and Vertex earlier this year.

That decision was expected to mean the loss of up to a thousand jobs, mostly in regional locations.
But Telstra group Managing Director consumer and channels, Gordon Ballantyne, was unapologetic about the move.

“You have to be ruthless [about costs],” he told industry newsletter Communications Day, while at the same time claiming that the consolidation would improve customer service.

Telstra said more local outsourcing deals would be wound up as the company divided its operations between its own internal call centres and those in the Philippines.

Telstra currently has around 10,000 call centre staff spread between its own call centres, domestic partners and overseas operations.

But under the Telstra plan it is the number of local staff at partner operations that will decline - a fact that strongly suggests that it is labour costs, not customer service, that is driving the company’s decisions.

 .. and rationalisation of retail shops.

Telstra’s call centre operations aren’t the only area of its business feeling the impact of Project New, the company’s major cost-reduction programme which, strangely enough, is also supposed to improve customer service.

According to The Financial Review, Telstra plans to cut its directly-owned retail stores by a fifth, reducing the number from 103 to fewer than 80.

The aim is to cut costs and increase revenues by encouraging on-line solutions to “low value” sales and service functions and outsourcing some “higher value” retail functions to licensed shops where staff will not, of course, be entitled to Telstra wages and conditions.

The licensed shops will focus on mobile and tablet sales.

Telstra has made no bones of the fact that the majority of the shop closures will be in rural and regional areas. No figure for total job losses has been offered, but it would appear from reports that some 400 full-time and a further 800 part-time positions could go.

These losses come on top of the 114 jobs that will be lost from Moe, Victoria, as a result of the decision to close the Telstra call centre there and the 90 jobs lost when the Grafton, NSW, centre closed late last year. And then there are the roughly 1,000 positions that are going from regional areas as a result of changes to Telstra’s call centre outsourcing arrangements (see story above).

That’s getting close to 2,000 jobs taken out of rural and regional Australia by Project New in the last 4-5 months. Not bad going for a company that says it is committed to the bush.

Once again members are reminded to check their pay entitlements. While the number of complaints from members relating to underpayments or overpayments by Australia has declined, some discrepancies continue to occur.

Members with issues about their pay should either request that their manager immediately contact Shared Services on 1300 363 772, or alternatively members can contact Shared Services directly on the same number.

Where this does not produce a satisfactory result then you are encouraged to bring this to the attention of the Union. Members are requested to make copies of their pay slip and be specific with the details of the pay entitlement not received when bringing their grievance to the Union. 

The Victorian Communication Workers Union P&T Branch
              has moved to the Federal Office.

                        Our new address:
                              1st Floor
               139 Queensberry Street, Carlton.
                                            Other contact details remain the same.

                                                              Our phone: