Gillard berates Telstra tactics

Date: 19 July 2008

Telstra's decision to abandon negotiations with unions for a new enterprise agreement have received a cold reception in Canberra, with Deputy PM Julia Gillard rejecting the company's reasons for walking away from talks.

Infamous for their enthusiastic support of Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA) and the controversial WorkChoices legislation, Telstra continued to use AWAs after the Federal Election right up until the new Government outlawed the practice in March this year.

Responding to management's refusal to negotiate with the ACTU and Telstra unions, Ms Gillard indicated that it was time for the telco to move on.

"AWAs are not part of this nation's future because the Australian people voted at the last election to get rid of Work Choices and unfair AWAs.

"It is in the interests of co-operative workplace relations for proper negotiations to occur in an environment of respect," she said.

Management's claim that negotiations with Telstra unions somehow jeopardised the company's chances at winning the National Broadband tender were "incorrect."

"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", the Deputy PM said in a statement.

ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence described Telstra's announcement as "not at all helpful."

"The position of the company's management is at odds with public opinion. A Galaxy survey conducted last week shows overwhelming support for the immediate restoration of collective bargaining rights for Australian workers.

"There are 11,000 Telstra workers whose collective agreement is due to expire later this year and more than 21,000 workers at Telstra who are on Australian Workplace Agreements that will expire in the near future.

"The company really needs to sit down with unions and plan for an orderly transition to a collective agreement that will protect the pay and conditions of all Telstra workers," he said.

For further information

Contact:	Stephen Jones
Union:	CPSU
WWW:	http://www.cpsu.org.au

LaborNET is proudly created, designed and programmed
by Social Change Online for the Labor Council of NSW
[Credits] [Site Matters]