News

Telstra unions met with management again last week as part of the negotiations for a new Enterprise Agreement with the company. The unions stressed that any new agreement must, among other things, do the following:



Deliver pay rises that keep up with inflation

Union negotiators explained to Telstra that latest forecasts suggest an annual inflation rate of 4.6% and the price of food and other essential household items rose by 12% in the last year.



Protect redundancy entitlements and other conditions

Members of all Telstra unions have told their representatives that protection of redundancy entitlements is high on their list of priorities for this EA.



Resolve AWA transition issues

Telstra employees who have been on AWAs should be able to transition to the new EA easily and without any disadvantage.



Build better workplace relations in Telstra

With the assistance of the ACTU, the Telstra unions have proposed a new “constructive relationship” agreement with Telstra. Our aim is to move away from the hostile, legalistic approach which has characterised industrial relations in Telstra over the last decade.



Telstra faces significant challenges – we think the way to move forward is through Telstra, the union and the ACTU working with all staff to produce higher performance for the company and skilled, well paid jobs for employees.



The unions are ready and willing to start putting such a new relationship in place. The ball is now in Telstra’s court.