FAQs: Get the Facts

What are the Enterprise Agreement (EA) negotiations?

Australia-wide, many Telstra staff members are employed under the Telstra Enterprise Agreement (EA).

The current EA is due for expiry in September. When it reaches the expiry date, you do not lose your conditions.

Further, after union took up your concerns to the Government, the current agreement unions negotiated to protect your redundancy entitlements now remains in place.

Both your EA conditions and your redundancy rights stay the same until a new agreement is in place.

We know Telstra staff would like a payrise, certainty about their conditions, and for many of their conditions to be improved.

This is why unions are keen to get back to the bargaining table to negotiate improvements to the EA.

Why is the EA so important?

For many years, the EA has formed the basis of strong pay and conditions within Telstra.

Even when many people within Telstra were moving on to AWA individual contracts, the presence of the EA acted as a safety net for pay and conditions.

The Enterprise Agreement (EA) is strong for several reasons:

* It is a collective agreement. This means it is an agreement between Telstra Human Resources and Telstra staff acting as a collective group. Joining together to negotiate with one voice makes Telstra staff stronger.

* It is negotiated on your behalf by the Telstra unions. We use our expertise to listen to you, advise you, represent you and get you a good deal.

What is the role of unions in the EA negotiations?

The EA is negotiated on behalf of staff by the Telstra unions.

We get your input through surveys, chats, emails and meetings.

We then use the following to listen to you, advise you, represent you and get you a good deal:

* Our knowledge of your concerns

* Our expertise in workplace law

* Our detailed knowledge of Telstra Human Resources department’s concerns, strategy and track record, and

* Our well-honed negotiated skills

If you would like to have your say about what is important to you at work, please feel free to email Telstra@actu.asn.au.

We always try to incorporate what members and all staff want into our negotiating plan.

Who are the Telstra unions?

Because Telstra is such a big and diverse company, there are three unions who look after staff in different departments.

They are:

CEPU

CPSU

APESMA

We are also referred to occasionally as the SBU, which stands for Single Bargaining Unit.

This year, unions have also been joined by the ACTU to help get you a better deal.

The ACTU is the peak body, representing all unions. The ACTU has lots of expertise and resources that we have been using to fight for a better deal for you.

What have unions been fighting for in negotiations?

You’ve told us you want a fair EA that sets a benchmark for pay and conditions throughout the company. Although Telstra is not a bad place to work, it could be better.

Unions have used your feedback to strongly argue for:

* A fair pay increase

* Salary sacrificing for all employees

* The retention of current redundancy entitlements

* Protected your grandfathered pay and conditions

* Keeping current conditions like RDOs/”non work days”

We’re also putting the case for you to get more control over your work at Telstra. It’s only fair for you to have a say in:

* Rostering
* Hours of work and work/life balance
* The fairness of your performance pay targets and scorecards
* Job classification
* Dispute resolution procedures if you encounter trouble at work
* Technological or organizational changes

We have won some important breakthroughs, but there is still plenty more to do. Although Telstra HR has called off talks, we remain as always ready and willing to represent you in negotiations.

What have unions argued about AWA employees?

Many Telstra workers are employed on AWA individual contracts. With the change in law, there will be no further AWAs within Telstra. We hope in the coming months all Telstra staff will have a real choice to move off AWAs.

Often signing an AWA was mandatory if you wanted a job with Telstra. In many cases, payrises, promotions, access to salary sacrificing and other benefits within the company, were limited to employees who agreed to sign. Many employees had little or no real choice but to sign an AWA.

The Telstra unions have heard from many workers on AWAs. Taking into account your concerns, we used the EA discussions to tell management:

* Telstra employees must be able to move off the AWAs without going backwards in pay and conditions.

* Telstra should respect the right of AWA employees who choose to move off their AWA prior to the final expiry date.

* Other concerns and issues raised by Telstra staff on AWAs must be considered as part of the EA negotiations.

More info: Read our Bulletin 4, Things are Changing at Telstra

What is at risk for Telstra employees?

Telstra used early negotiations to tell unions that in their opinion, your current conditions are too generous.

In particular, Telstra HR canvassed changes including:

* Significantly reduce redundancy pay, including capping the amount for employees with long service
* Cutting RDOs
* Abolish grandfathering provisions

Unions have argued vigorously against this in negotiations.

More info: Read our Bulletin 7, EA negotiations progress update

Telstra management has once again raised the prospect of dividing employees into “Part A” and “Part B” groups.

You may recall Telstra attempted to roll out an agreement with “Part A” and “Part B” to call centre employees in November 2007.

Employees overwhelmingly voted to reject the agreement because it significantly reduced conditions.

More info: CPSU press release, Telstra workers vote no to a quick and dirty deal

The draft agreement included in Part B:

* No certainty with start and finish times: could be anytime on any day

* No guaranteed payment for overtime

* Redundancy reduced to three weeks per year of service instead of four, and capped at 40 weeks for new employees.

* No guaranteed pay increases

More info: read Telstra’s 2007 offer to Part B employees and see for yourself the reduced take home pay and conditions on offer.

What have unions achieved at the bargaining table so far?

Recent correspondence from Telstra confirms we have won some important breakthroughs. These include, for current EA employees, retention of:

* Redundancy pay
* Grandfathering
* Penalty payments
* Leave arrangements

Telstra has also now confirmed employees on AWA can move off them without disadvantage, however only after they expire as late as 2012.

Although Telstra HR has called off talks, we remain as always ready and willing to represent you in negotiations.

Who called off EA negotiations?

On July 17, Telstra human resources emailed staff and called a press conference to announce they had unilaterally decided to suspend Enterprise Agreement negotiations.

Telstra’s Heads of HR Andrea Grant and Darren Fewster told the media that they would not negotiate the Enterprise Agreement (EA).

Are unions open to going back to the bargaining table?

When your rights at work, pay and conditions are placed in jeopardy by Telstra HR, unions can’t afford to play games.

This is why unions have at all stages said:

* That we would go back to the bargaining table any time
* That we place absolutely no conditions on going back to the bargaining table.

On July 22, the Telstra unions wrote to Sol Trujillo reiterating our willingness to continue to negotiate in good faith toward a new Enterprise Agreement.

We proposed concrete dates for continuing negotiations: 25th and 27th of July.

More info: Read unions’ letter to Sol Trujillo here.

On July 24, Telstra HR Group Managing Director Andrea Grant responded, “As advised last week we now consider Enterprise Agreement discussions to be at an end.”

What can you do to help get Telstra HR back to the table?

You can use the Rights at Work website to email HR manager Andrea Grant directly.

Over 2000 people have already personally emailed Ms Grant asking her to get her team back to the negotiating table.

Why did Telstra call off negotiations?

It’s not unusual in negotiations for HR managers to talk tough.

Stunts like this are often used as part of a process to soften up employees, so that they are more likely to accept whatever management next put on the table.

However, in this case we believe there may be further motives. Some members have contacted us with suspicions such as:

* Telstra HR are using the uncertainty they created by calling off negotiations to impose a non-union collective agreement.
* Telstra HR called off the EA negotiations to try and get workers onto a non-union agreement before Labor’s IR laws go through the Parliament later this year.
* Telstra HR are trying to confuse workers so they think unions have done something wrong, as part of a plan to marginalize unions from members, supporters and the people they represent.

Unions have not been able to speak with HR in order to probe these members’ concerns.

What reasons did Telstra HR give for calling off negotiations?

Telstra HR has provided several reasons for why they’ve refused to negotiate their staff Enterprise Agreement and put future payrises and conditions in jeopardy.

These are:

The unions’ so-called ‘side agreements’: “The ACTU, with Telstra unions, demanded that Telstra sign side-agreements in order to progress EA discussions. Two side-agreements (the Constructive Relationship Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding) have been presented to Telstra and both have been rejected. This is because they contain prohibited content that is unlawful and could not be included in a new EA.”

Telstra HR has raised issues of democracy, saying that staff would not get a vote on whether or not to sign a side agreement.

And they have said that the unions are supposedly placing Telstra’s ability to win the National Broadband Network contract in jeopardy: “Importantly, signing the union side-agreements would disqualify Telstra from tendering for the $4.7 billion national broadband network (NBN) project and new communication cabling work.”

What did Telstra HR tell the media, and why was it different to what they told staff?

Telstra HR sent around an email to staff outlining their reasons for calling off the EA negotiations as above.

The email to staff said, “We have asked the unions to drop their demands for side-agreements and confirm that they will focus on EA discussions. Our door is open when they do.”

In fact, this is repeated more than 8 times throughout Ms Grant’s FAQs document!

However, what Telstra management said to you was different to what they told the media.

“Ms Grant indicated Telstra would not resume talks with the unions even if the side agreement was withdrawn.” Telstra Pulls Plug on Union Pay Talks, Ewin Hannan, The Australian, 17/07/08.

Obviously unions can’t speculate about why Telstra HR gave staff different information to what they told the media. However, we do know that this occurred.

Are you confused yet? Let’s go through this one step at a time!

What is the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)/ Constructive Relationship Agreement (CRA)?

Unions proposed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that recognizes your rights to:

* Certainty about your rights at Telstra.
* Clarity about what the changes in Australia’s workplace laws means for you.
* Advice and representation and access to your union representative.
* A more positive and constructive relationship between Telstra and your unions.

It might help to think about the MoU not as a document or as an agreement, but as a symbol of a better way forward for Telstra staff, their union representatives and HR management who sets pay and conditions.

We used the draft Constructive Relationship Agreement (CRA) to kick off debate with Telstra.

We later refined that to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Get your copy here.

These sorts of arrangements are common in many Australian businesses, even under WorkChoices.

So is the MoU legal, or not?

The MoU is perfectly legal.

We have new advice from the Dept of Workplace Relations proving this. Read their advice here (.tif file)

It’s the Department of Workplace Relations, not Telstra’s lawyers, that decides if the document is acceptable. So we submitted the MoU to the Department. After minor adjustments, the MoU has been deemed perfectly legal.

Telstra had made arguments about legality while talking to staff about their decision to call off EA talks.

Read the Memorandum of Understanding here.

We are sure we could achieve suitable arrangements that provide you with a voice at work through your unions, if Telstra was willing to do so.

However, Telstra HR’s track record and their inflexibility on this issue are bad signs for the future. They have admitted to the media that even without their legal issues, they would not agree to a constructive relationship.

So does that mean Telstra HR’s excuses no longer hold water?

That’s exactly what it means. Head of HR Andrea Grant had three main arguments for why she cancelled EA talks.

* She said the MoU was undemocratic: but unions offered to put the MoU to a staff-wide vote.

* She said the MoU was illegal: but unions wrote in the MoU itself that anything that did not comply with official code and guidelines would be removed. Now, the Department of Workplace Relations has confirmed that after minor adjustments our MoU is completely legal.

* She said the MoU would interfere with Telstra getting the broadband contract: but this would only be the case if the MoU was illegal - which it’s not.

After we received the Department’s legal advice, unions wrote to Telstra HR informing them, politely, that their excuses no longer hold water.

So what should happen next?

Ms Grant herself has said if the MoU was legal she would return to the bargaining table:

“Telstra is interested in a productive working relationship with unions and have said we would commit to a statement of positive, lawful relationship principles…”

“Telstra has repeatedly advised the unions that we remain willing to discuss lawful matters…”
Andrea Grant (Telstra) to staff “Frequently Asked Questions” 10/07/2008

We have written to Ms Grant and Telstra once again asking them to bargain in good faith.

Would unions continue the EA discussions even without Telstra HR agreeing to the MoU?

Yes. Nothing stops unions from representing our members and their colleagues in these important talks about pay and conditions.

We have made this clear many time, for example we said,

“We remain ready and willing to negotiate. We have made clear we do not require agreement on the MoU to continue bargaining”

Read it for yourself in Bulletin 7: EA Negotiations Update

What does the new Labor Government think about this?

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has personally offered her encouragement to Telstra unions’ drive towards developing a new relationship with company management.

In a letter to Telstra unions she wrote “The Government is supportive of these efforts to build a more constructive relationship with Telstra. It is the Government’s view that cooperative workplace relations drive productivity, employee engagement and satisfaction.”

You can read Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s note here.

Julia Gillard, the Minister responsible for Employment & Workplace Relations, also dismissed Telstra’s rationale for scrapping enterprise bargaining agreements.

“The National Code and Guidelines for the Construction Industry do not in any way prevent a company subject to their operation from negotiating a collective agreement with their employees or their employees’ representatives,” Ms Gillard said in a statement. “Any claims to the contrary are incorrect.”

Why has Telstra HR said unions are undemocratic when they have not accepted our invitation for staff to vote on a constructive relationship?

Unions count democracy and people having a frank and honest say as part of our core values.

To this end, we offered to have a company-wide vote on whether or not Telstra staff should have their rights at work clarified in the form of an MoU.

We said,

“The Constructive Relationship/MoU we have proposed aims to clarify your rights at work. One of those rights is for you to have a say. We think every single Telstra staff member should be offered the opportunity to vote on whether Telstra management embraces the constructive relationship. We hope that Telstra management accept this invitation to put the MoU out for a company-wide vote.”

Read the full bulletin here.

This invitation has not been accepted. No reason has been provided.

If Telstra was concerned about democracy they should have recognized the outcome of the last election and not rolled out a further 15,000 AWAs.

How would staff benefit from a more constructive relationship?

Every time we talk with you, you’ve made it clear you want certainty about your rights at work.

You’ve told unions you want clarity about what upcoming changes to Australia’s workplace laws means for you, and that you want advice, representation and access to your union representatives.

Some members have reported management stopping them from accessing their unions. Unions proposed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that recognizes your rights to these things.

We think it’s in the interest of both management and staff to see the company grow - and provide decent, secure jobs for our members and all Telstra workers. This calls for a new, more positive and constructive relationship and we want to make it happen.

What is an example of the current relationship between Telstra HR and Telstra unions?

We think this recent real life example serves as a case study for why things need to change at Telstra. Read what happened in Moe on July 23.

What is the National Broadband Network (NBN)?

Telstra employees are at the cutting edge of the rapidly-changing world of communications. The Labor Government has committed $4.7billion in taxpayer funds to a high speed, fibre-to-the-node broadband network. Telstra is a prime candidate to get the contract.

What role are unions playing in discussions about the National Broadband Network?

We do have a responsibility to ask Telstra management some very important questions on your behalf.

These include:

* If Telstra won the contract, will existing Telstra workers benefit?
* Will the work be outsourced, or stay within Telstra?
* Broadband will make the current network less important - what will happen to workers maintaining the current network?
* Will workers be retrained on new systems?

As representatives of working people Australia-wide, unions also care about access issues and fairness.

* Will low income and small business people be able to afford it?

* Can those in the bush and regions use the network?

We will continue to ask these important questions until we get clear answers for you. You can see the Bulletin where we outlined these concerns here.

Would the MoU inhibit Telstra’s chances of winning the National Broadband network contract?

Telstra has said that the MoU contains illegal material.

If an agreement contains illegal material, or as it is known in John Howard’s workplace laws, “prohibited content,” then a company is not allowed to profit from Government contracts.

As we have said, we believe Telstra HR’s legal argument does not stand up to scrutiny.

Section 6 of the MoU says just that:

“6. Agreement Compliance: If any matter is found to not be compliant it will be struck down to the extent of any inconsistency or amended by agreement. When any law, code or guideline subsequently changes or no longer exists, the parties agree to reinstate the original provisions as agreed.”

We are sure we could achieve suitable arrangements that provide you with a voice at work through your unions, if Telstra was willing to do so.

Will Telstra sign up to the MoU if it is proven to be legal?

This is a very interesting question! According to Andrea Grant and Telstra HR’s FAQs document for staff, they would.

The document said:

“We have asked the unions to drop their demands for side-agreements and confirm they will focus on EA discussions. Our door is open when they do”

“We are keen for EA discussions to continue and have asked the ACTU and unions to drop their demands for a side-agreement and confirm that they will focus on EA discussions. Our door is open when they do”

“Telstra is interested in a productive working relationship with unions and have said we would commit to a statement of positive, lawful relationship principles that could be included in an EA”

“Telstra has repeatedly advised unions that we are keen to discuss lawful matters as part of the EA negotiations.”

“Telstra’s objective throughout has been to reach agreement with the unions that offers Telstra employees attractive terms and conditions, helps us delivery superior service to our customers and keeps the company strong and competitive in a challenging market. However, we require the unions to commit to EA negotiations and formally abandon pursuing side-agreements like the CRA and MoU.”

“We remain ready and willing to resume EA discussions as soon as the unions provide the assurance we have sought. We want to get these discussions back under way”

“Telstra has repeatedly advised the unions that we remain willing to discuss lawful matters as part of the EA negotiations. However, we will not discuss prohibited content of the sort found in the MoU and CRA”

All sourced from Andrea Grant (Telstra) to staff “Frequently Asked Questions” 10/07/2008

Of course, they told the media a different story.

“Ms Grant indicated Telstra would not resume talks with the unions even if the side agreement was withdrawn.”

Telstra Pulls Plug on Union Pay Talks, Ewin Hannan, The Australian, 17/07/08.

What is Telstra’s real reason for calling off the EA negotiations?

As you can see from the evidence above, Telstra HR’s arguments for calling off the EA talks do not hold water.

We have said that if anything in the MoU was illegal we would remove it.

We have said we wanted Telstra staff to exercise their democratic right to vote on the MoU.

And we have clarified our role in relation to the broadband debate: it is to ensure the principles of fairness, access, and advancing the interests of Telstra staff are upheld at all times.

Logically therefore, all the evidence points to Telstra HR calling off EA negotiations for more subtle, hidden reasons.

What could Telstra HR’s strategy be?

Last year Telstra pushed through thousands of AWA individual contracts in a last gasp attempt to achieve what we consider is their ultimate HR strategy.

We believe Telstra HR would like to see a workforce with no collective arrangements, where your hours, performance targets and thereby your ability to earn “at risk” pay can be changed, with no real say on your part.

They want to ensure you have no future access to your union.

Why is this all happening now?

Some members have contacted us with suspicions such as:

It is significant that Labor’s full package of IR laws will soon go through the Parliament.

We believe Telstra HR might be trying to rush through a non-union agreement before the new laws compel them to bargain in good faith with their staff.

What’s in Labor’s new laws?

Prohibited content is a hangover from the old Workchoices laws. It restricts the parties from making a collective agreement that deals with a number of topics. Given it was drafted by the Howard government, many of the restrictions relate to normal cooperative practices between unions and employers. For example the Howard government laws restrict the ability to have training for union workplace representatives.

Labor has made clear they will get rid of such restrictions. Labor’s policy makes clear the parties should be free to reach agreement on most matters.

Labor is currently drafting the law to get rid of prohibited content. It is expected the law will be introduced to the Parliament before the end of the year.

Labor has already passed some interim legislation, the “Transition” act, to stop employers from making any new AWAs. The next act will address many other issues, including prohibited content.

Prohibited content applies to registered agreements only. That is agreements which are taken to the industrial relations commission and certified. Telstra unions have not proposed the MoU be certified. We believe an agreement on a constructive relationship needs to be taken on face value, otherwise we don’t have a constructive relationship!

So the only barrier that remains at law is a technical, legal argument regarding the construction industry code and guidelines.

The construction industry code and guidelines is again a hangover from Workchoices. It is not law, it is not regulation. It is only a policy of government which is applied to tenders for construction and building projects.

The code requires the parties to have agreements in place which do not include prohibited content or otherwise are contrary to the Code and Guidelines.

The new Labor government has made clear it will review the code and guidelines to ensure they do not restrict sensible arrangements which encourage constructive relationships.

We believe the current MoU is consistent with the Code and Guidelines. To ensure Telstra does not risk being in breach of the code and guidelines, we have proposed forwarding the MoU to the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations who provide advice as to whether agreements meet the standards. The Department is the effective umpire regarding Code compliance.

What is Telstra HR’s future agenda?

We believe Telstra HR’s real long term agenda can be revealed in the agreement they tried to force on “Part B” call centre employees last year.

The draft agreement included in Part B:

* No certainty with start and finish times: could be anytime on any day
* No guaranteed payment for overtime
* Redundancy reduced to three weeks per year of service instead of four, and capped at 40 weeks for new employees.
* No guaranteed pay increases

More info: read Telstra’s 2007 offer to Part B employees and see for yourself the reduced take home pay and conditions on offer.

If you want to know what your pay and conditions at Telstra would be like with no unions, look at Part B. That is the future.

In 2007, employees overwhelmingly voted to reject the agreement because it significantly reduced conditions.

More info: CPSU press release, Telstra workers vote no to a quick and dirty deal

What is a non-union agreement?

Non-union collective agreements sound okay because they have the word “collective” in the title.

However, there is no negotiation. Your voice through your union is locked out. Telstra decides what to offer without discussion. Effectively Telstra negotiating with itself!. You would get to vote yes or vote no, but you get absolutely zero say in the details of the package.

An agreement like this will reduce your access to your union at a time when Telstra is going through major change, as right of entry for union officials to see members in the workplace goes.

What happens if they offer a non-union agreement?

You will have around a week to look it over. Then staff affected by the proposed agreement will get a vote.
Telstra HR will present their case in favour of the agreement.

Unions will be here to help you analyse the agreement and decide what action to take. Get in touch by emailing Telstra@actu.asn.au or calling the Workers’ Helpline on 1300 662 223.

You will be asked to vote Yes or No. if you vote no, nothing bad happens! Telstra HR simply has to come back with a more attractive option. Your existing wages and conditions, including the redundancy agreement carry on by law.

What if they offer a really, really sweet deal in a non-union agreement?

If a non-union collective agreement is offered to staff, you will have to analyse it carefully.
For example, check if it divides staff into two groups. Even if your conditions are not attacked, future employees’ conditions could be. When there are two tiers of employees, and one with better pay and conditions- who will be the target for future job insecurity and redundancy?

Also be aware about short term benefits versus long term bargaining power.

The current workforce may sign a non-union agreement because it looks good now, in 2008.

But in three years’ time when Telstra - and the Australian economy! - has completely transformed, staff may find themselves in a weak bargaining position.

Lastly, Labor’s new IR laws are going to go through Parliament soon. Even though the laws are in no way perfect, they will definitely mean employees and employers have a more level playing field.

You don’t want to trade away any rights you might have before you even get them!

Are unions here to help all staff?

Unions are proud to represent thousands of members within Telstra.

We’ve used our skills to achieve great wins for members - these benefits flow through to all staff. So even if you’re not a member, we listen to you and you get the benefit of the good deals we win for you.

However, despite our negotiation skills and knowledge of the law, unions’ real strength is YOU.

More members mean we get hear from more voices and represent you even better.

Most importantly, the more union members there are - the greater staff influence becomes.

We encourage you to join in your union today and get involved.

There would be no Telstra without Telstra workers. By sticking together, you have the power to influence the future of your job and your company.

Your Rights at Telstra

FAQs: Get the Facts

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