Bilan
20th July 2008, 08:22
Telstra's HR managers walk out on 32,000 workers: take urgent action now!
Dear reader,
Sometimes a company will treat its workers with such disdain it can take
your breath away.
On Thursday, Telstra's Human Resources managers decided to completely
cancel collective agreement talks with its workers.
These are the talks that set a safety net of pay and conditions across the
whole of Telstra's 32,000-strong workforce. Without these talks, the future
pay and job security of these workers are critically at risk.
As a nation we rejected this WorkChoices-style arrogance and unfairness at
last year's election. And now we need to reject it again.
Telstra's HR managers can't treat their staff this way - and it can't
ignore Australians' opposition to WorkChoices unfairness this way. Tell HR
to get back to the bargaining table now.
www.rightsatwork.com.au/campaigns/gobacktothetable
Labor was elected on the explicit promise that it would abolish AWAs.
But that didn't stop Telstra's HR managers. Over Christmas, they went into
overdrive, signing up a further 15,000 employees onto new 5 year individual
contracts before the paperwork banning AWAs could get through the
Parliament.
Now the Rudd Labor Government has banned AWAs, all of these Telstra staff
need to have an orderly transition to a collective agreement.
Unions have been representing staff at the talks. We've argued that we want
to see the company grow, prosper, and give good service. We want it to
provide good, well-paid jobs for all of the staff - not just the senior
management on multi-million dollar salaries.
But Telstra's HR managers have refused to bargain collectively with workers
represented by their union.
It's just not on. Email Andrea Grant, Telstra's Head of Human Resources,
and tell her that her team needs to get back to the table now.
www.rightsatwork.com.au/campaigns/gobacktothetable
Frustratingly, unions had offered Telstra a way forward where unions and
the company's management could join together with a Memorandum of
Understanding. We could put aside this legacy of friction in the interest
of staff and the future of the company.
But Telstra's HR managers decided to just up stumps and cancel talks. Not
surprisingly, they're using excuses cooked up by their legal team - the
exact same lawyers that wrote the Work Choices legislation for the Howard
Government.
Use our website to send an email to Telstra's Head of HR now. In your
email, politely remind Ms Grant and her fellow HR managers what the nation
made clear in November last year. Employers - big or small - have to listen
to their workers, bargain with them collectively when asked, and pay them
fairly. Those are the rules.
Many thanks,
Sharan Burrow, Jeff Lawrence, and the Rights at Work campaign team
From Your Rights at Work list.
Dear reader,
Sometimes a company will treat its workers with such disdain it can take
your breath away.
On Thursday, Telstra's Human Resources managers decided to completely
cancel collective agreement talks with its workers.
These are the talks that set a safety net of pay and conditions across the
whole of Telstra's 32,000-strong workforce. Without these talks, the future
pay and job security of these workers are critically at risk.
As a nation we rejected this WorkChoices-style arrogance and unfairness at
last year's election. And now we need to reject it again.
Telstra's HR managers can't treat their staff this way - and it can't
ignore Australians' opposition to WorkChoices unfairness this way. Tell HR
to get back to the bargaining table now.
www.rightsatwork.com.au/campaigns/gobacktothetable
Labor was elected on the explicit promise that it would abolish AWAs.
But that didn't stop Telstra's HR managers. Over Christmas, they went into
overdrive, signing up a further 15,000 employees onto new 5 year individual
contracts before the paperwork banning AWAs could get through the
Parliament.
Now the Rudd Labor Government has banned AWAs, all of these Telstra staff
need to have an orderly transition to a collective agreement.
Unions have been representing staff at the talks. We've argued that we want
to see the company grow, prosper, and give good service. We want it to
provide good, well-paid jobs for all of the staff - not just the senior
management on multi-million dollar salaries.
But Telstra's HR managers have refused to bargain collectively with workers
represented by their union.
It's just not on. Email Andrea Grant, Telstra's Head of Human Resources,
and tell her that her team needs to get back to the table now.
www.rightsatwork.com.au/campaigns/gobacktothetable
Frustratingly, unions had offered Telstra a way forward where unions and
the company's management could join together with a Memorandum of
Understanding. We could put aside this legacy of friction in the interest
of staff and the future of the company.
But Telstra's HR managers decided to just up stumps and cancel talks. Not
surprisingly, they're using excuses cooked up by their legal team - the
exact same lawyers that wrote the Work Choices legislation for the Howard
Government.
Use our website to send an email to Telstra's Head of HR now. In your
email, politely remind Ms Grant and her fellow HR managers what the nation
made clear in November last year. Employers - big or small - have to listen
to their workers, bargain with them collectively when asked, and pay them
fairly. Those are the rules.
Many thanks,
Sharan Burrow, Jeff Lawrence, and the Rights at Work campaign team
From Your Rights at Work list.