Telstra customers are advised that services are likely to be potentially disrupted from the weekend onwards as Telstra workers take part in five days of rolling stoppages, the Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) announced today.
Protests will be held in Sydney and Melbourne on Monday, marking a further escalation of industrial action against Telstra over its refusal to negotiate a union collective agreement with its employees.
The protests will also highlight the dirty tricks Telstra has been up to in an effort to secure non-union agreements across the company next week.
Overtime bans will be observed by Telstra workers on Saturday and Sunday, followed by a series of rolling 24-hour stoppages over the coming week.
“It’s certainly going to be a long weekend of industrial action for workers, who are waiting to see if Telstra returns to the table in good faith,” CEPU National President Ed Husic said today.
“Telstra’s done little to mend bridges or bring the wage talks back on track.
“In fact they have gone out of their way to upset and aggravate their staff by rolling out non-union deals in an underhanded way.”
Mr Husic said that over the last two weeks Telstra had “deliberately reorganised workforces that were opposed to management’s counter, non-union wage offers”.
“Under the guise of a so-called ‘organisational restructure’, they’ve taken employees who’ve said they would vote against Telstra’s non-union deals and placed them in groups more likely to vote up these deals,” Mr Husic explained.
“For example, one group opposed to the deal, based in Burwood (NSW) was placed with other interstate groups — and this new group then voted up the deal.
“Telstra are doing this because WorkChoices lets them do it – and it is exactly the kind of bad faith behaviour that will be outlawed under the new laws to take effect from 1 July.
“Once again, employee views and wants take a back seat in Telstra, as management rigs up a gerrymander designed to deliver their hard line industrial agenda.”
In Sydney and Melbourne, CEPU members will attend a joint union rally with members of the CPSU, on Monday, February 9, 2009.
SYDNEY RALLY: 11.30am, outside the offices of Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo – 400 George Street.
MELBOURNE: 12pm, outside the T-Life store, cnr Swanston and Bourke Streets.
Media Contact:
MR ED HUSIC, CEPU NATIONAL PRESIDENT, CEPU COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION SECRETARY 0437 371 372
