Telstra workers threaten strike
21 Nov 2008 5:15 PMBy Katie Bradford
MELBOURNE, Nov 21 AAP - Angry Telstra workers are threatening their first strike in more than a decade over the company's refusal to negotiate a collective agreement.
A postal ballot of unionised employees will decide if the action goes ahead.
At a protest coinciding with the company's annual general meeting in Melbourne on Friday, Communications Electrical Plumbing Union (CEPU) national president Len Cooper said workers were furious about Telstra's ongoing refusalto negotiate.
"People are angry, because on one hand you've got a company with a CEO getting the type of remuneration of ($13.4 million) a year and a 14 per cent increase last year and they are refusing to give even a cost of living increase for the workers in the company," Mr Cooper told reporters outside the meeting on Friday.
The unions want a seven per cent pay rise over the next three years, to cover the increased cost of living.
If the vote by 7,000 unionised Telstra workers passes, a combination of short, rolling and indefinite strikes will be held in mid-December.
"They (workers) are going to have to sacrifice in the run-up to Christmas, but they've been waiting over 12 months now for a pay increase and they can't wait any longer," Mr Cooper said.
Louise Persse, national president of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), said more than half her union's membership was female, who worked in the customer service centre.
"It is a big step for workers who haven't experienced industrial action fora very long time to get to this point," Ms Persse told reporters.
"It really is the bloody-mindedness of the company in their refusal to negotiate that has led to this. It's not something the company should be proud of at all."
Mr Trujillo told the AGM the enterprise agreement proposes a 12.5 per cent pay increase over three years, plus bonuses of up to 2.5 per cent per year.
That adds up to about a 20 per cent pay increase over three years, he said.
"We have a very strong view on having a close relationship with our employees, a direct relationship with our employees, because our employees only really care about what is important to them, and that is their wages and salaries and other things important to their working conditions."
He insisted Telstra would continue to have an "open dialogue" with its employees.
The results of the ballot will be known on December 9.
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