The CEPU and other Telstra Unions are continuing their negotiations with the company for a new Enterprise Agreement.
As indicated in previous e-Bulletins, headline issues include:
1. regulation of performance management systems to ensure fairness and transparency;
2. updating, where necessary, of banding and classification systems;
3. redundancy provisions;
4. dispute settlement and consultation processes.
As members would be aware, legislative changes introduced by the former Howard Government put a number of key Telstra conditions at risk and it is important that these are now secured in the new EA.
For instance, under WorkChoices, the Telstra Redundancy Agreement expired once any new EA (or AWA or ECA) was agreed on. The Fair Work Act did not change this situation so it is now necessary to incorporate members’ entitlements in the new EA.
Similarly, the Howard Government’s privatisation of Telstra meant that members were no longer guaranteed certain conditions such as maternity leave and long service leave. Again, these conditions have to be incorporated into the new agreement (as they have been in the current one).
On the positive side, the laws introduced by Labor mean that Telstra has to agree to third-party involvement in dispute settlement procedures. In other words, they have to allow an independent umpire to deal with disputes and cannot keep the whole process in-house. However, there is as yet no agreement between Telstra and the CEPU as to whether that “umpire” (which can be either Fair Work Australia or another body) can arbitrate disputes.
No final agreement has been reached on the detail of these questions and a number of other issues, including the scale of salary increases, have yet to be discussed. However, the CEPU is hopeful of there being a desire on both sides to reach agreement as soon as possible and the Union is working to achieve this.
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