Well done Wholesale and Service Advantage; time for Telstra to resume negotiations
September 17, 2008
Workers in Telstra’s Wholesale and Service Advantage (Call Centric) divisions have shown great courage in rejecting the company’s inadequate non-union job contract.
It’s now time for management to respect that decision and the rights of its workers to be represented by unions.
The defeat of the unilateral offer in Wholesale and Service Advantage is a stunning rebuff to management’s divide-and-rule strategy.
Telstra workers have been treated very badly by the company’s management and it is no wonder they have rejected this non-union job contract.
Employees in the two divisions were denied their right to union representation and subjected to almost every trick in the book by management.
But this small group of workers have been prepared to stand up for their rights against enormous pressure from management to sign up to a job contract that would have entrenched many of the worst aspects of Work Choices for years to come.
They have done this not just for themselves but for all employees. You can send a message of thanks here.
The company’s job contract would have turned new employees into second class workers with reduced entitlements to paid overtime, no guarantees of annual pay rises and reduced redundancy.
The non-negotiable pay offer would also severely curtail employees’ rights to meet with union representatives.
By Telstra’s own admissions in last week’s Federal Court case, it was to be the template for what Telstra has planned to roll out across the rest of its workforce.
Management should take heed from the clear message in this result: drop the Work Choices tactics, improve your pay offer, and return to the negotiating table with unions,” Mr Walton said.
Telstra proceeded with the vote despite criticism of the content of its non-union job contract from everyone from the Deputy Prime Minister down.
Both the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and the Federal Court have found serious faults with Telstra’s behaviour by not bargaining in good faith, and the terms and conditions in the proposed offer.
Just yesterday, in published reasons for refusing Telstra’s attempt to gag unions, Justice Sundberg of the Federal Court found that the proposed employee collective agreements restrict right of entry, cut pacesetting pay rates and provide inferior conditions for new employees.
Management spent tens of thousands of dollars to apply the pressure on these workers to agree to the deal, including a threat to freeze their pay for 12 months. In doing so, they have caused immeasurable damage to the relationship with staff.
Following this result, it’s clear that the current offer from Telstra will be rejected by the rest of the workforce. It’s also imperative that legislation to abolish Work Choices is introduced very soon, and is supported by the Senate.
It’s time to move forward from this divisive dispute.
Unions are ready to help management rebuild a co-operative relationship with the Telstra workforce but only if management abandons its Work Choices tactics and respects workers’ rights to collective bargaining and union representation.
Unions will write to management today asking Telstra to take part in immediate discussions.
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92 Responses to “Well done Wholesale and Service Advantage; time for Telstra to resume negotiations”
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Well done! You did the right thing not only for you but for future employees. Telstra will now have to change how it treats its employees since fear, divisiveness and spin were rejected (again - we already did it when voted out workchoices).
Well Done!
One for the little guy.
Thanks for standing up to the ‘Masters’, We will not be slaves
Well done my Wholesale & Call Centric colleagues. A great result. It is now up to the rest of us to show the same resolve if & when Telstra roll out the next ECA.
Well Done Wholesale and Service Advantage, you have stood your ground and rejected their flakey offer.
Telstra have tried in every way to run away from the fact that they need to get back to the EBA negotiating table.
So now that they’ve had their shabby “ECA” rejected, I think now is the time to come back to the table.
HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!!!! Well done people. A bad deal snuffed out by good people for the common good. You guys whacked em right on the nose!! GOOD SHOT!!!! show us the numbers Telstra.
Thanks to all you good brave and strong people in Wholesale and Service Advantage. Well done, we salute you!
I think this is a great result for all Australians who want their employer to respect their rights at work; who want their employer to bargain in good faith.
Keep on keeping on!!!!!!!
thanks..this is great
Great Work Wholesale and Service Advantage. Hang in there! We are all behind you.
Good on you guys!! It is admirable what you have done and I have nothing but respect for you given the amount of pressure Telstra had placed on you. Well done!
3 cheers to the Wholesale and Service Advantage (Call Centric) workers, you were the guniea pigs in this venture and have shown we wont be rolled over and tickled ! This is workchoices by stealth, and the government that recently got voted in ‘cos of workchoices should now abolish anything that smells of this draconian law…well done to the unions in supporting the workers and now hopefully will be able to broker a fairer deal to all concerned..i know we’ve been working out guts out to build a strong Telstra, especially regarding the NGN and broadband tender, now one feels dumped when Telstra are not on a level playing field, one feels like one got kicked out of home for being good. Hopefully they now reliase that we’re not sucker bait, we’ve had enough of being exploited and used and now all staff should be treated with respect they deserve and make the organisation the great one it used to be..With the safety of the Union umbrella hopefully Telstra will now come to the table and negotiate a better deal, and no performance based pay as usually the goals are unachieveable so that they wont have to pay you the small increase of 1.5% anyway, also hands off all pre existing conditions, particularly leave, entitlements, penalty rates,overtime, rdo’s and redundancy provisions, all these have taken years to work towards and we dont want it all undone in a matter of a few meetings..just make sure guys that you read between the lines of anything presented by Telstra, keep doing that !! we’ve got a right to know and be respected for the fine work that we do to achieve that great $$$ profit..
Well done, & thanks.
Well done people! You’ve led the way for the rest of us to follow.
We need to show management that we WON’T be bullied, and you’ve made a great start.
If we all stand together, we will win this one.
Great result Wholesale and Service Advantage. They say Telstra management respect us as employees but they refuse to respect our right to have professional negotiators for our employment arrangements. It’s time Telstra management respected all our wishes for this as well.
Well Done Wholesale and Service Advantage!! You are not alone you have the support on many!
Well done Wholesale and Service Advantage workers. I am sure Telstra’s management would be reading these comments, therefore I say to management: Take up the Union’s offer to re-start negotiations, before your staff begin to vote with their feet. Telstra negotiated a salary package with Sol’s employee representative. Have respect for my employee representative, that is my union. To our fellow worker’s: If you don’t fight, you lose! (Redgum).
well done Wholesale and Service Advantage. Those slides said you were the weakest and easiest to target first.
WRONG ! I’m so proud of you for standing up and not being bullied by management.
Well done Wholesale and Service Advantage staff. You have set a good example for the rest of the organisation to follow, if they happen to try and roll this out elsewhere. Dont be surprised if Management come back with a sweeter offer. Beware of management bearing gifts. We must keep saying “No” until management understand we want them to come back to the table to negotiate with our Unions. Good stuff guys.
Well done wholesale, everywhere I,ve been today everyone has been so happy you voted NO, and so glad you didnt fall for their deception.
Well done.
Well done. Much appreciated for taking & defeating the first wave. Telstra`s test has failed. Lets keep up the resolve to not give in & get them back to the table.
And to think they would try it out on who they thought were “weak”. Well you really showed them… I`m proud of all of you !
Well Done Service Advantage and Wholesale, you have showed that you have the strength in numbers and in unity to vote no against an agreement which does not benefit Telstra Employees! Only a Union Negotiated Agreement with Union Representatives will give us what we are entitled to as employees of this Corporation. We will continue your hard work. All the best!.
Well done guys. this is one small step for all Telstra employees and one giant hit against unfair Telstra policies and Telstra Lies. Its time Telstra respects our wishes and our unions and start teh bargaining again. You guys have the respect of all other Telstra employees for your stand against unfair pay and conditions. stay strong and dont be bullied anymore and this goes for all Telstra employees.
Well done guys. You have all stood tall in this trying time and i thank each of you from the bottom of my heart. Cheers
well done guys..you made the right decision..this is great news..thankyou for your no vote..
Solidarity is truly alive and well throughout Telstra’s Workforce. As has been shown in this win for the courageous and strong over the weak and insipid.
Telstra have employed predictable and obvious tactics so far.
But I think it’s time for them to re-enter negotiations and bargain good faith.
Although they probably could try and fire up Greg Winn to go to the gun cabinet, fetch out the shootin’ iron, and just take us out and shoot us all.
Good one guys , one well aimed boot were it was needed . Let’s hope the rest of us do the same !
Well done to all who stood up against A.Grant and her collegues…
Good stuff as we the unions are definitely worth it!!
Thank you to all of the Whole Sale Staff and call Centre Staff for voting ‘NO’. You give me faith that the staff of this company will fight for fair and equitable renumberation packages that we have all earned. Telstra doesn’t accomplish its network builds, its customer service, it’s huge profits with out all of our hard work. We deserve to be renumerated for the growth we have helped Telstra accomplish. Thank you again for your brave stance.
To all employees from Wholesale & Service Advantage,
You heeded all our (Telstra employees) advice and Billy Connolly’s (’Its your money’). Remember its YOUR PRESENT and FUTURE $MONEY$. Thank you for your bravery and steadfast decision.
Proud of all of you,
Dan
Thankyou Wholesale and Service Advantage! There is no underestimating your resolve to fight the standover tactics and bullying strategy of Telstra management. As A fellow Telstra consultant in a call centre who has endured the strategy of high targets-failure to meet those targets-remove the consultant-whilst at the same time driving down wages and conditions strategy of Telstra management- I applaud you.Andrea Grant (Human Resources Manager)I hope you are reading this !
The result of this non union agreement vote has been closely watched, not only by those of us who may still be asked to vote on a similar agreement, but by other large employers, their employees, the government and other unions. The moral and selfless decision of Wholesale and Service Advantage staff to reject these agreements, for mine, demonstrates that Telstra have not only underestimated the intelligence of their employees, the commitment employees have to each other, their desire for a decent and fair workplace, but also the importance to staff of having a union represent them at all levels if they so choose. Dare we suggest elements of the company are out of touch?
In my view, what is truly reprehensible is the lack of respect afforded Wholesale and Service Advantage staff in the way Telstra chose to communicate the ballot result. Should you have to log on to the net and read the national news to find out whether or not your employment conditions have changed, or should you hear that from your boss? A callous way to treat ‘valued’ staff don’t you think?
Thank you for having the guts to say NO.
Ohh… now you have hurt managements feelings! You are all so darn selfish for standing up for a fair go. Shame on you, now say sorry and dont let it happen again.
Thanks Guys for standing firm and saying NO to Telstra.
Well done guys !! this is a great result for Employee rights, and clearly shows the Telstra dictators we arent going to take their bullying and lies anymore.
The Telstra dictatorship now need to pull their heads in, cop it in the chin and accept that employees want the unions (not Telstra) representing their interests.
Its time for Telstra to recommence negotiations with the unions.
Congratulations. Telstra have to be shown that they cannot treat their staff with the contempt they have demonstrated for the last decade.
Well done team - United we stand, divided we beg.
Good on you,
great to see a small group like yours stand up and rebuff Telstra’s condesending PR guff. I’m not usually someone who would make a big noise about pay rises and work conditions but I have been so dissappointed about the way they have gone about the latest offer. Particularly in the light of the big increases that upper management have recently been given they should show a little more respect toward their ‘valued employees’
I have been with Telstra for nearly 30 years and have been really saddened to see our hard fought for terms and conditions slowly being eroded by the current management. I want to offer my support and congratulations to those staff who stood up for their rights despite what I am sure must have been huge pressure. To paraphrase an old slogan which is still true “United we stand divided we fall.” Thank you.
Good to hear that the quick and nasty sweeteners to get this one through have been spotted and rejected. It has been spotted that the ECA offered was full of syrup to try and get up, with Telstra targetting what they considered to be the “shoo-in” units. What has been spotted is that, while the offered ECA had all the sweeteners to get up, it made no mention of what happens at it’s expiry in 3 years - there would be no bargaining whatsoever at that time. As usual with Telstra & their HR & Upper Management, it’s not what they tell you that you have to worry about - it’s what they do not tell you - ie - you are constantly having to read between the lines and second-guess ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they put on the table. Congratulations to all in Wholesale and ServAdv for sticking it to them!
Many Thanks to Wholesale and Service Advantage staff. You have done a very courageous thing. I know you guys were seen as a soft target and the template to ran this ‘take it or leave it’ deal through all of Telstra. I was party to some of those management meetings and it was clear for the outset that the whole deal was a blatant attempt to bribe existing employees with a handful of cash, divide the workforce and put all new staff on second rate AWAs and kill the unions.
The deal was put together very artfully, to appeal to the I’m alright jack mentality and too bad for everyone else. My manager pushed this deal very strongly and said ‘it doesn’t matter about Part B employees because. ‘its not you and they can go and work for Optus if they think they can do better’ This management attitude is shameful and devalues us all.
So very well done guys. you have stood up for your rights and the rights of all present net and future workers in this company and given a very clear message to management that we will not be bullied and belittled and we value a true collective agreement and a fair deal for all workers.
Well done and as stated above “Congratulations to all in Wholesale and ServAdv for sticking it to them!”
Well done People. Thanks for showing the way.Now big T come & talk to my bargaining agent,the unions.
Don’t WASTE YOUR TIME with further presentations. I’m not interested.
Good job guys.
I’m curious what constitutes a “narrow margin”. I’m guessing that the company have a very different interpretation than most of us would. Why not give us figures if it’s so narrow?
Well done Wholesale & Service Advantage staff for all your hard work. UNITED we stand!
Many Thanks to Wholesale and Service Advantage staff, very good to see that the majority of your group could see the future danger of this ECA.
What a relief to know that the group which Telstra purposely targeted first, actually stuck together and said “no”. It’s a proud moment and all of you should be very proud. Please stay strong and remember we all support you.
Well Done!
Hopefully my working section of Telstra will support the same decision as you. When is Telstra going to get the message - We’re tired of their manipulation. Get back to the negotiations and a happier workplace.
Thank you, staff of Wholesale and Service Advantage. Your integrity and strength are great examples for your colleagues.
Gppd on ya’s … well done. I want my kids to grow up in an Australia based on Australian values, not American!
Good on you, fellows Wholesale & Service Advantage. We’re behind you 100%.
We congratulate those employees for standing strong. Telstra must now realise that employees are fed up with management tatics, the lack of respect shown, the lack of recognition and lack of decent wages and conditions that have been offered. Time to get back to the negotiating table with the unions for a real wage increase.
Congrats once again
Thanks for all you comments - it’s comments like that posted above that make the NO! vote worthwhile. We voted NO because we saw this was an unfair agreement - thanks to all others who voted NO with me. United we stand - divided we beg!!
Well done to the small band of workers who have the courage and determination (under enormous pressure) to stand up for fairness and the right for unions to represent you in a negotiation.
Well done to the union for your persistence and for your professionalism in assisting to bring about this outcome.
Telstra employees now need to support this decision by our colleagues and vote NO to any other ECA presented by management.
In Australia, we have a right to be represented by our union in negotiations.
Well done people. This NO vote made my day! I’ve been feeling really down about our future in this company lately, but finally we are having our voices heard. We must make sure we all follow the lead taken by Wholesale & Service Advantage, and let Telstra know we value our skills and they should too!
I congratulate every one at wholesale & Centric for standing your ground, this is a great result. Don’t let Telstra reduce your wages & conditions, while our upper management hypocritically increase their remuneration packages. Thanks also to our hard working unions, I urge my fellow employee’s to join the union if your not all ready a member.
Thanks again to those staff that voted No!!!! you are an inspiration
Well done, and Thanks.
Well done guys!!
I’m on leave but have still been following the progress of the ECA. Well done! You’ve stuck by your principles and that takes courage. It will be far easier for the rest of us now to do the same. Thanks.
Awesome people! A result I never really expected, restored my faith in stick-it-up-em Aussies!
This is fantastic news. Well done. I think Andrea Grant should resign. If others feel this was please say so!
Well Done Wholesale and Service Advantage. Stand firm! You’re an example to us all.
Congratulations to the courageous and principled people of Wholesale & Service Advantage who voted the proposed agreement down. You’ve demonstrated those wonderful traditional Australian values of fairness and mateship in action. At a time when people’s budgets are hurting it must have been tempting to vote yes, and you have my admiration and support for the stand you took. Let’s hope that Telstra management get the message and start talking to our representatives again in good faith.
The common thread of Telstras’ IR policy appears to have been a divisive concept built on the notion that some people are somehow either “better” or more “deserving” (especialy Sol himself apparently).
This victory is uplifting and inspirational because the section of Telstras workforce that were targeted because of their perceived “weakness” showed immense courage, integrity and unity.
The good news for Telstra is that they now have evidence of the excellent quality of character of their staff. Time to re-enter negotiations with the Union, and pay them what they are worth!
Thankyou for demonstrating to Telstra high level management that staff do not trust them. We have always stated that distrust in opinion surveys. Now you have very clearly stated it! Their devisive tactics will not work against a united workforce. Telstra staff must collectively bargain or they will surely loose. We protected key conditions last EBA now it is time to recover the wage increases staff forgave to maintain grandfathering and redundancy etc!
After the first NO vote, Telstra announces another step in the transformation process - more redundancies in middle management - retribution, scare tactics or just coincidence??
To those at Wholesale and Service Advantage all employees in Telstra owe you a great deal of gratitude. Hopefully now the road to a better understanding between Telstra and its workers has become clearer. Over many years in Telstra I have seen many changes, but I have never seen the level of bullying, intimadation and sheer arrogance I see from Telstra Management in the last 36 months. From Telstra Country Wide one big “Hooray” for what you have done.
I’m overwhelmed and proud of our WHOLESALE & CALL CENTRIC colleagues for standing strong and voting NO!!! We’re all backing you and everyone thanks you for your efforts in not allowing the smaller groups of our organistaion to been pushed into the corner. We now have to be prepared for the next goup which I’m sure there will be to give them all the support we’ve given to each other in this round to also vote NO so we can show that staff are fed up.
Great one Guys!!! In Unity & Diversity!!!!!
Well done guys. I hope Telstra now wake up and smell what their “people” actually want. This would have really dented their arrogant egos.
They may have to look at their own model now, one FACTORY, one EA (Union of course)
thank-you , thank-you , thank-you .. it must be a great feeling being able to turn the tables and stick it to managementfor a change.
well done
Well done, it seems that by not releasing the actual numbers from the ballot, Telstra is perhaps hiding that the result may not have been decided by only a small margin.
Mark
congragulations to all callcentric workers to standing up to there managers who were using bullying tactics to make them vote the other way. We are a Union of people to stick together & we will we chase these over paid American mongrels home where they belong.
Well done once again
It is clear that Telstra’s intent in offereing the ECA, was to get a new agreement in place prior to any legislative change by the Labor government.
The rejection of the offer would appear at first to be a victory for workers, that is until we read the meat of what the legislation Telstra feared actually says now that it’s main principles have been publicised.
Without the fear of compulsion that a third party like the IRC being able to arbitrate would engender, I can see nothing in the legislation that compel the party in the stronger bargaining position, to in fact bargain in “good faith”.
With the larger part of it’s work force locked into AWA’s until 2012, Telstra has a huge strike breaking force on tap to crush any protected action the unions can undertake in support of negotiations. Management would have to be fools to retreat from the position they have taken, they can afford to starve us out.
The last election was supposed to be a choice between more of the same, and fair, good faith bargaining, but the reality seems to be that we have in fact been simply given more of the same, our vote didn’t result in a significant change in policy at all.
I think we all need to be writing to our local members, the minister and prime minister to let them know that we want them to provide what they promised, a fair industrial regime characterised by equitable bargaining with an arbiter with the teeth to ensure that bargaining was truely undertaken in “good faith”.
Thank you. I am sure you have made the right decision.
congratulations folks you have all taken a giant step towards securing your future
You have shown the power of a united stand that management do not have an answer to
I urge all employees to do the same and vote no in their area if required and show that you demand a union negotiated agreement that is fair to all
Well done!
Thanks to the true TELSTRA heroes at Wholesale division you have shown management that we have had enough of SOLE and his three amigoes comming into the country and sucking millions out of Telstra in bonuses while we wait at the end of the line to get a few cents to keep going for another year .United we stand Divided we fall . Keep unity together .
Thank you Wholesale & Service Advantage colleagues for trail blazing a path for all Telstra Staff to follow - again we say to Telstra Management get back to the negotiating table with unions for a fair and equitable EBA. We will not give up our hard won Australian inheritance to have professional union representation in our work place agreement. It’s about time the Aust Government cancelled all the temporary visas for Sol & his Banditos and sent them all back to USA. Sol’s yankee doodle dandy policies are so out of touch with 200 years of Australian Culture. Telstra’s top level management practices have become so un-Australian it is utterly contemptuous that they would outright refuse to ask their own staff at the ballot whether they would like the unions involved in workplace agreements. To have that fundamental choice taken away is akin to a return to slavery. A person can easily vote themselves into slavery but getting out of bondage is a whole different story. Without the collective strength and industrial relations expertise of union presence there is no savvy umpire to help keep watch over the game to ensure Telstra Management play fairly and uphold any agreement. If not the union then who will keep the bastards honest? The union movement came into being to stop child labour, exploitation of workers, excessive work hours, poor pay, dangerous working conditions - in short to protect human beings from being treated like machines only to be tossed onto the junk pile when they break down. I say to Sol and his “One Factory” policy - we do not want to be treated like disposable machinery fodder - we are human beings and we want our fundamental rights as humans protected by Union involvement in workplace agreements.
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security (Benjamin Franklin)
Andrea grant to be the first of the 800 to go please..
I would just like to thank our brother and sisters in the WHOLESALE & CALL CENTRIC areas.I just can not describe the elation I felt when I heard that the ECA had been tossed out by these people. Obviously a group of level headed people who could see through the crap that the big T was trying to force down their throats. I guess there comes a time when the people at the bottom of the food chain get sick and tired of giving and giving and giving and getting nothing back in return.Once again WELL DONE and a big BRAVO ZULU!!!!
Thanks to all the wholesale call centric workers who voted “no” thereby standing up for the right for ALL telstra employees to be represented ! We were all behind you and by voting “no” you have given us heart to do the right thing when our turn comes.
A big thanks, you have made a choice that will benifit us all in the end. You have alse set a good example for the next group managment picks on.
Well done Telstra members, keep going and get a union agreement
You are a bunch of no-good dead beats. Get back to work before you all kill the economy you enjoy.
Well Done! Stand up for our rights at work!
Mate
Geez, what an idiot or management stooge or both….they’re one in the same thing anyway.
It’s one thing to call people “a bunch of no good dead beats”. That’s your opinion.
But ‘Get back to work before” they “kill the economy” they “enjoy”?….They are at work stupid. There is no industrial action, nobody is on strike. You need to brief yourself more on this topic before you make silly off the cuff remarks like you posted here…. 4:35am? Maybe you were a little “tired and emotional”.
But thanks for the hit to this website…they all count.
Well done guys “United we stand, divided we fall” You should all feel very proud of yourselves for having the intestinal fortitude to stand up and rejecting the divisional ECA that has been offered. Well done. Now it is up to the rest of us to take your exceptional lead and continue to reject the offerings that will be rolled out
Thank you so much. Management and HR need to understand that in order to go forward together, we need to work as a team. With the EBA/ECA fiasco, they are displaying total contempt for the component of the team that generates their healthy paypackets, the companies general workforce. Only as a team can this company keep improving for the benefit of all of Austalians. We want to work as a team. Wholesale and Service Advantage have demonstrated this ideology. Thankyou.
I cant believe this firm after all these years and all the crap patting on the back. look out for the hand coming round the back. Good on you people. I will be ralling the rest to do the same.
This is fantastic news. Well done. I think Andrea Grant should fall on her own sword and resign. We have for some time been treated as non thinking workers to be told what we will be given after the cream comes off the top for management wages, you have shown that this is no longer the case.
thank you
.congratulations on the no voe, well done
I am pleased to see not every one sees only the dollar waved in front of them. It is good to see people in Telstra know what is best for themselves and their work mates. One workforce, one wage. Goodbye to part A, part B.