Surely, most members would have by now seen today’s message from Executive Director, HR Shared Services, Darren Fewster regarding long service leave.
We’re fairly confident that many members have had the same reaction to it that we have: surely, this is a joke.
And we’re not joking. One of the most common topics of enquiries received from members to your Union is about not being able to access their leave entitlements. That’s why we’ve been left scratching our heads as to why Telstra feels it has a right to force its employees to avail of the leave — when their inability to meet employees’ requests for leave is what has caused this issue in the first place.
With so many members constantly hitting brick walls whilst trying to access their leave entitlements, it comes as no surprise to us that Telstra’s liability has grown to such a high level.
It seems someone forgot to consider the impact on ongoing liabilities whilst they were too excited about the projected savings to be made by absolutely decimating their workforce.
If you haven’t got the workforce to meet the demand of your customers, how are you supposed to manage the reality of employees accruing 4 weeks a year in annual leave and 9 days a year in long service leave?
These are the realities of modern-day Telstra. Never mind the network, never mind the customers, never mind the employees’ rights to access their leave to spend time with friends and loved ones — just please the shareholders.
What does it mean for you?
There are two very clear ramifications of Telstra’s proposed changes:
- For those employees with more than 90 days of accrued Long Service Leave, you will be forced to take up to 45 days of long service leave, per calendar year, until your balance is equal to, or less than, 90 days.
- Going forward, when availing of long service leave, instead of taking seven consecutive days, Telstra want you to take nine.
What can you do about it?
Telstra has asked employees to offer up their feedback on the proposed change before they make their final decision.
To do so, send an email to: longserviceleaveproposal@team.telstra.com or post to the Long Service Leave Proposal group in Yammer by clicking this link.
Do it today.
In the meantime, your Union will be meeting with Telstra on the proposed changes and will be strenuously opposing the change.
We’ll keep members updated on the progression of those talks.
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