Pressure Builds on Stellar Contract

Date: 03 April 2000

The Carr Government has been asked to intervene to ensure that a new Stellar call centre at Hornsby is not operating in breach of the Carr Government's own Contracting Policy.

The centre has been established on a five-year outsource contract by the State Transit Authority to provide timetable information to the public.

Former Stellar human resources manager Andrew Hillard told Workers Online last week that staff were being forced onto non-union individual contracts on a 'take it or leave it basis'.

CPSU national secretary Wendy Caird has written to NSW Industrial relations Minister Jeff Shaw asking him to ensure the contracts are in line with NSW industrial relations laws that prohibit individual contracts being imposed on workers.

"The NSW Government has taken a very good public stand on industrial relations policy, particularly its refusal to replicate peter Reith's AWAs in NSW," Caird says.

"But its unfortunate that this public policy has not been followed through in its contractual arrangements with Call centre providers like Stellar.

"The NSW Government has to intervene to maintain credibility," she says.

Stellar Hits Foreign Troubles

Meanwhile, the company that Telstra joined forces with to create its controversial Stellar chain of centres call is at the centre of a scandal in Britain over bullying of workers.

British MPs are calling for tighter regulation of the call centre industry following a series of media stories on the operations of Stellar's parent company Excell Global Services.

Among the allegations against Excell is that an employee who has an epileptic fit at work and was taken to hospital had his pay docked and lost bonuses worth more than $400 for failing to keep a perfect attendance record.

And since the report was aired, Excell has required staff to undergo 'facial mapping' to prove they were not the anonymous employee who gave a critical TV interview where only the bottom of the face was shown.

Stellar is a joint venture involving Telstra and the phoenix-based Excell Global Services.

For further information

Contact:	Dermott Browne
Union:	CPSU - National Office
Phone:	93349200

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