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Issue No. 207 | 22 December 2003 |
Backs to the Wall
Interview: Robbo�s Rules Unions: Fightback 2003 Bad Boss: Madame Lash Whips Tony Politics: United Front Economics: Looking Back - Looking Forward International: Net Benefits History: The New Guard Poetry: What is the PM singing this Christmas? Review: Culture That Was
STOP PRESS: Doubts Over Driver Test Commuters Face Long, Hot Summer Bennelong Grinch Strikes Again
Predictions Culture Culture The Locker Room Technology
Looking The Otherway At Christmas
Labor Council of NSW |
News Telstra Picks Up Union Signal
Two hundred Telstra/Foxtel sub-contractors called off a week-long strike after contractors, Siemens Theiss and ABB, withdrew demands for 20 percent cuts in job rates. Telstra contracted out the work five years ago, then churned through one contractor after another in a bid to keep driving down pay tv and broadband installation costs. The subbies banded together, under the CEPU banner, after Siemens-Thiess and ABB picked up the latest contracts and attempted to impose further cuts on earnings. More than 90 percent of the 205 contractors employed in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth threw their lots in with the CEPU, precipitating industrial action that last for a week in NSW and 10 days in Victoria. The sub-contractors picketed Telstra headquarters and used their vehicles to mount blockades on Australia's most profitable company. The action finished when Telstra, Siemens-Theiss and ABB, ditched clawback demands and agreed to consider a log of alternative claims. CEPU has set up a sub-contractors committee that will meet monthly, and filed a log of claims on another Telstra contractor, Comet, after 75 percent of its subbies joined the union at site meetings last week. CEPU organiser, Shane Murphy, confirmed the campaign to unionise independent contractors would move to satellite cable tv installers and Optus sub-contractors in the New Year. Amongst the immediate gains won by broadband and Foxtel installers, last week, were: - restoration of the job rates being paid prior to Telstra re-letting the contract, saving workers from average $500 weekly cuts to their incomes - bulk insurance discounts arranged through CEPU - sub-contracts varied to include dispute resolution procedures - workers will be allowed to paint over the Telstra or Foxtel livery they had been required to display on their vehicles Murphy said workers still weren't "thrilled" about new contracts being offered by Siemens Theiss and ABB. They have given written notice of their intention to seek five percent increases each time the head contracts come up for annual review.
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