The approval of a new Union-negotiated collective agreement covering 10,000 employees at Telstra is a major achievement for Union members as provided for under the Fair Work Act 2009.
The new enterprise agreement which was resoundingly approved by Telstra workers, will deliver an initial 2% pay rise backdated to 1 July 2010 and further pay rises totalling 6% between now and October 2011 .
Employee participation was exceptionally high with a 71% returning a vote with 86% of those voting, voting yes to the Telstra EA proposal – sending a clear message to Telstra that its employees take a very keen interest in their jobs, pay and conditions.
The EA covering almost 10,000 workers for the next two years preserves existing terms and conditions of employment, defines a clear path on to the Union-negotiated EA for workers covered by non-Union agreements and includes access to enforcement through arbitration by Fair Work Australia for the first time in many, many years.
Some of these conditions include salary sacrifice arrangements, trade union training leave, option to cash out annual leave, improved performance management regulation, hours of work, redundancy, Overtime rates, RDOs etc.
Around 6000 Telstra employees on Australian Workplace Agreements and other non-Union agreements were this week informed of their pay being frozen until at least March next year.
The pay freeze shows how one-sided AWAs and inferior non-Union agreements are when an employer can unilaterally decide there will be no pay rise, without any negotiation or consultation with those affected employees.
By contrast, the new EA shows the benefits of working under a Union-negotiated collective agreement.
Ahead of the agreement coming into force, the CEPU will be continuing to push for the creation of pay parity between those on existing Employee Collective Agreements (ECAs) and those on the new EA.
As reported previously to members, Telstra has given commitments to engage in talks with the Unions on this issue.
During the 2 year term of the new EA, the CEPU will be working towards for all employees ultimately benefiting from better wages and conditions and importantly have access to equal rights.
Your CEPU would like to thank all members of the union for their contribution during this difficult and lengthy hard fought campaign that now provides for many improvements to working conditions against the alternative and provided for under Telstra’s non-Union ECA’s
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