Quality Services Quality Jobs

1
Quality Services - Quality Jobs

• The View from the Australian Telecoms Industry
• Ros Eason
• CEPU Australia

2
Structural change in the Australian industry

• Fixed network duopoly 1991
• Market liberalisation 1997
• Partial privatisation of Telstra 1997 and 1999
• Expansion of investment activity 1997-2001
• Current period still marked by corporate
  failures/consolidation.

3
Impacts on employment

• Telstra full-time workforce halved since 1996.
• Limited growth in full-time employment in other
  carriers (Optus the exception)
• Increased reliance throughout industry on
  contract and casual labour
• Growth of sub-contracting

4
Union responses industrial

• Coverage of second general carrier during duopoly
  period.
• Unionisation of major contracting companies in
  late 1990s.
• Creation of private sector award
• Some recent success in organising sub-contractors

5
Organising Foxtel sub-contractors

• Sub-contractors squeezed as Telstra pushes
  contract prices lower.
• Proposed 20 cut to piece work rates for
  sub-contractors
• Rapid unionisation and successful industrial
  action

6
Responses to casualisation

• Recent wins on casualisation in some call centre
  areas
• Management concerns over downsides of casual
  labour
• Casual turnover around 35 p.a. with related
  training costs

7
Industrial responses

• Most recent Telstra Enterprise Agreement creates
  new category of employment - the supplementary
  worker
• Minimum 500 hours per annum
• All Telstra entitlements, except for sick leave
• Covered by Telstra Redundancy Agreement.

8
Political responses

• Union anti-privatisation campaigns highlight
  impact of staff reductions on Telstra service
  quality
• Senate inquiry into Australian telecommunications
  network

9
Regulatory

• Quarterly reports by regulatory authority on
  carrier service standards provide opportunities
  for union interventions
• Maintaining and extending universal service
  obligations key element in CEPU public policy
  position.

10
Universal service CEPU positions

• Support for progressive extension of Universal
  Service Obligation ..
• .. but must be tied to regulatory measures which
  support investment..
• ..including a re-examination of access pricing

11
Universal service

• Impacts of next generation technologies (NGN)
  will be far reaching
• Policy debate is at an early stage in Australia
• Some decisions on how to regulate VoIP early next
  year.