CWU meets with Telstra on consultation processes
The CWU and other Telstra unions met with Telstra on Thursday, 12 November to voice concerns about the current round of redundancies in the company and the short time periods being allowed for consultation over them.
Since this latest wave of cuts began, the unions have received over 30 notifications of “proposed” redundancies across a wide range of operational areas. Some of these affect only one or two employees, but many involve multiple job losses.
And while the net job losses are not yet as large as (say) those arising from the 2013 Operations review, the spread of the proposed cuts has made it difficult for the unions to conduct membership consultations in the timeframes proposed.
That makes it harder to make a well-based and well-informed push-back against the redundancies.
At the time of the meeting, Telstra had in fact already moved to implement two of the proposals signalled on 27 October, those affecting employees in Whitemail and Billing (Global Contact Centre area) and in Solution Sales (Telstra Business).
At the 12 November meeting, the CWU received commitments that no further decisions would be made in relation to the major announcements until further consultations with Telstra had taken place, allowing time for the union to engage with members on the proposals.
Since then, however, yet more redundancies have been flagged.
Members need to be aware that the union relies very much on them to identify the impact of such proposals, at least in the first instance. As the notification we receive does not name those affected, union officials will not necessarily know how many members – if any – will be affected. We also need your help in assessing the impact of the proposed cuts.
If your job is targeted for redundancy, inform the CWU at the first opportunity, even if you are being offered voluntary redundancy and/or are hoping to be able to take a package. The union needs such feedback to track and respond to these proposed job losses.
