Telstra gives unions the silent treatment

Telstra's main union claims it has not heard a peep out of Telstra, despite continuing industrial action.

National president of the Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union Ed Husic said that there had as yet been no olive branch from Telstra. "Not a phone call, not an email, not an SMS, smoke signal, nothing."

Despite the lack of response from the corporation, he believed the action was going well, with 96 per cent of unionised workers carrying out the 48-hour stoppages. It is not compulsory for members to conduct action.

Husic said that one quarter of all ATMs across the country which developed faults in their telecommunications connections went unfixed. Harder faults were being added to the backlog of work, Husic said, because Telstra couldn't fix them.

"It's probably added a week to the fault repair schedule," he said. "That clearly isn't any good for Telstra."

A Telstra spokesperson said that the company would do everything necessary to maintain service levels to its customers, but pointed out that only 15 per cent of its employees were union members.

The spokesperson said that Telstra had put forward a fair offer which had roused the interest of over 5,000 employees.

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typical telstra joe -- 23/12/08

A week added to fix times, yep i know what that feels like, and if telstra has a work force of 32,000 and 5000 are interested in the ECA then doesnt that mean some 85% of telstra emps are not interested in the ECA? to sum up

15% ECA Good
70% Not interested at all
15% ECA Bad

Not exactly the rousing success telstra says it is...

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typical telstra Anonymous -- 24/12/08 (in reply to #320119829)

Joe, why don'y you go back to your cave, and hibernate, you stupid w..ker !

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lol, is that you sydney mike? joe -- 24/12/08 (in reply to #320119881)

because your both spouting the same non-sensical diatribe

Seriously though, is this proof that telstra really is interested in stamping out all unionism in the company, or just that they dont care when 15% of their workers vote that their not happy with the way things are....

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lol, is that you sydney mike? Anonymous -- 24/12/08 (in reply to #320119895)

So Joe, every one has to suffer because of you and your 15%. But then again you said "15% of their workers" ? Sounds to me like you wouldn't work in an iron lung !!!

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What do you expect from a union stooge RIP Unions -- 24/12/08 (in reply to #320119903)

I walked away from my union years ago and am earning much better money and enjoying my work life much more thanks to that move.

Fellow workers who are still union members only know how to complain and earn much less then me because they won't work hard due to a number of reasons..

1. They will be shot down by their union rep or other members if they work harder then they should (even if they are not putting in a full productive day's work)

2. They will not try to be seen as a leader or superior to their peers as they would put down their colleagues and not be "taken care of" when the time arises.

3. They will not be rewarded for performing better then their peers because they will all get paid the same amount anyway and get the same increase.

4. They are not happy as they see their non-unionised colleagues getting 4%, 5% and higher increases each year as well as employee benefits due to more flexible contracts. This means they will not be as enthusiastic at work.

Unions only ever encourage negative sentiment and are a drain on society, I have never seen one positive and proactive thing come from the unions. They are only ever seen when there is trouble to be had.

Now I will wait for all the union stooges to come out using profanities and gutter tactics to attack me and my opinion.

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@What do you expect RIP selfish, uncaring sycophants -- 24/12/08 (in reply to #320119907)

No profanities required, you have displayed your own very selfish, sycophantic attitude, for all to see.

1. Just look at your subject, 'attacking someone' by calling them a union stooge and then having the hide to dare people 'not' to attack you and your opinion?

2. You have a very high opinion of yourself indeed, dont you? Actually believing you work harder. Then you show absolutely no compassion for anyone else. What a double.

Your above mish mash of muddled words purely displayed this selfish demeanour, as you had nothing positive to add and then you talk of others negativity?

3. For example, you do not care about those with limited education or English skills, who need representatives to negotiate on their behalf. Because you're ok.

4. You care not for those who are mistreated or exploited by ruthless employers. Because you're ok.

5. You care not for those who are under paid or not receiving full entitlements, because you're ok.

6. You care only for 'your own' short term gain. 5% p.a. increases and more, as a bonus 'not to be in a union'. Sounds like discrimination, but as long as you're ok. But you'll still want all those basics fought for and won by unions, like annual leave, sick leave, penalty rates, etc, won't you?

Unions only encourage negative sentiment, you say?

What like fighting for Bernie Banton (and many others similar). A man dying (tragically passed away Nov 2007) from asbestosis. A man who was being fought by a multinational company, who refused to pay compensation, until the union stepped in, yes negative. How dare they steal a few dollars from a multi billion dollar company to give to the expendable, when that could have been another 2% p.a, for someone just like you.

But what about when the union is finally, totally omitted from your wonderful workplace? Will the company still be giving increases to those greedy, selfish people who just put their hands out for their 5% p.a, 'not to be in the union bonus', when the union is gone?

Although I think we already know the answer, please also tell me this? When you price yourself out of a job and your company outsources 'your job' abroad, will you continue to bend over, or rather than seeing jobs that could be future jobs for your kids and their kids, sent overseas and gone, will you say enough and join the only people willing to stand up and fight for average employees in such situations?

Guess who that would be?

Now I will wait for all the 'non union' stooges and for you, to come out using profanities and gutter tactics to attack 'me and my opinion'.

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@What do you expect Sydney Mike -- 02/01/09 (in reply to #320119911)

RIP selfish uncaring sycophants....

In your answer to - What do you expect from a Union Stooge - you forgot to mention which union you are a paid representative of ?

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@What do you expect Anonymous -- 02/01/09 (in reply to #320120187)

My God you reckon his was a selfish, sycophantic attitude ! Your union biased reply was incredible. You are obviously a union rep - Which one mate?

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Taking about selfish, heres..... RIP selfish Sydney Mikes portfloio. -- 02/01/09 (in reply to #320120187)

Talking about selfish, here's anonymous Sydney Mike.

Obviously you agree with big business ripping off workers and not paying compo to dying employees, just as long as those shares are doing ok, hey, Telstra fanboy.

No, I'm not a union rep at all, but if me caring about others makes me a union stooge then so be it.

At least my portfolio doesn't rule my emotions, like you who'd sell grandma, for a few extra cents dividend.

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telstra is a shark Anonymous -- 03/01/09 (in reply to #320120198)

I would consider myself a fairly poor person, it seems the harder I work, the higher telstra bills, over the course of my life I have made less calls and recieved higher and higher bills. I don't spend much on food each day or the odd pack of smokes, I don't drink. But to call a friend is by far the greatest cost of living, some months higher then rent. How is this justifiable? What power exists in Australia to stand up for the person who is feasted financially by the greed of this monster? I personally worked for telstra and I know for a fact we were not trained to care for customers, we were drilled daily on phychological methods on how to hook and hypnotise customers into spending more. If you failed you were out the door. Screens were set up with tallies to judge who was better at hard selling customers. Try ringing to enquire about your bill, if you don't give a telstra employee the sign that you are interested in giving them an upsale they will drop your call into another department, and that department will follow suit.

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Telatra backs down! Anonymous -- 18/02/09 (in reply to #320120187)

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Telstra-backs-down-before-court/0,130061791,339295029,00.htm

Take that stooooooge!

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Telstra has no time for unions Anonymous -- 20/02/09

Why should Telstra talk to the unions? The unions do not report to shareholders, they have no financial stake in the company and they have no right to interfere with the operations of the company. The problem is that unions are Labor politicians' puppets fighting a class war that doesn't exist in Australia.

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