
Issue No 35		15 October 1999

News

Telstra Workers Turn Reith on his Head

In a bold industrial play, Telstra workers are using Peter Reith's Australian Workplace Agreements to give them the right to strike in support of their New Years Eve pay claim.

The Community and Public Sector Union has asked workers to authorise them as agents for a two-week long collective AWA, to enable them to seek a protected bargaining period that could allow them to take industrial action over the Christmas-New Years period.

This is because the current Telstra agreement contains a 'no extra claims' clause prohibiting action in support of the claim.

While the CPSU has been seeking millennium pay rise talks, Telstra management has refused to discuss specific details - although there is talk within the organisation of a $500 New years Eve bonus in some sections.

Workers are seeking:

- a $40 per hour frequent attendance for those required to attend work for more than three days between Christmas to New Years Eve

- a $100 per hour bonus for anyone required to work any time between New Years Eve and January 2 - in addition to any other penalties.

- a flat on call allowance of $700.

"This is a bit of a departure from the normal practise in Telstra where standard AWAs have been offered to staff on a take it or leave it basis," CPSU telecommunications secretary Stephen Jones concedes. "Its a bit like putting the shoe on the other foot."

"We expect that when Telstra realises we are serious about the AWA strategy they will come to the negotiating table."

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  Issue 35 contents

Interview: Strategic Responses
NSW Police Association president Mark Burgess has worked in the coal mines and the waterfront - now heï¿½s the public face of NSW police

Republic: Negative Campaigning
If the Republic fails, one of the main complaints which should be leveled against the ARM is its refusal to play dirty.

Unions: Interpreter smooths the way for Kosovar Refugees
ï¿½The people really appreciate what Australia has done for them but they still want to go home," said Ariana Biba, a HREA member who has been worked recently as an interpreter assisting newly arrived refugees from Kosovo.

Education: Count Yorga's Evil Plot
NTEU president Carolyn Allport looks at Kemp's brazen attack on univestities and warns the battle is not won yet.

Safety: Death in the Snowy
Beyond the engineering achievements of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, there is the tragic story of those workers killed or seriously injured in the construction of the project.

International: Why Is the WTO So Anti-Labour?
Driving the cost of labour down appears to be the main priority of the World Trade Organisation

History: The Importance of Tradition
Historical documents bring us into closer contact with the past and its concerns as this 1945 extract from the NSW Nurses Association journal, The Lamp, shows.

Review: McLibel - The Mice That Roared
This documentary is the classic tale of the little guys against the system, a battle for the right to dissent.

Satire: Government Privatises Numbers
Prime Minister John Howard released a new policy on numerals yesterday, to bring them in in line with the Liberal Party's plan to privatise ï¿½Pretty much everything before we lose office.ï¿½

» Telstra Workers Turn Reith on his Head

» Revenge of the Working Sick

» McPickets To Hit Centennial Park

» AFL-CIO Computer Deal Keeps Union in Control

» Four Pillars Behind Westpac Cuts

» Labor MPs Asked to Stand Up and Be Counted

» Reithï¿½s Second Wave Smokescreen

» Reith to Legalise Gay and Lesbian Discrimination

» Denham or Lace - Libs to Ravage Public Sector

» The Big Australian Swiftie - $19 Mill Entitlements at Risk

» Real Sweatshops: Ice Cubes To Cool Down

» Xanana Endorses APHEDA

» Tales from the Gender Battlefield

» Itï¿½s Time! Republic Goes Funky

» STOP PRESS: Combet Elected ACTU Secretary Unopposed