Telecom lines engineers nationwide strike

July 24, 2009
Media Release

Telecom lines engineers take nationwide strike action

Telecom lines engineers are taking nationwide strike action today over their employer’s refusal to offer redundancy protection at a time of uncertainty in the industry.

The lines engineers are employed by Telecom’s Australian-owned contractor Transfield Services.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says the lines engineers are striking for redundancy protections in an industry increasingly destabilised by Telecom’s contracting model.

“The root cause of today’s action is Telecom’s contracting model, which plays contractors off against each other in a race to the bottom on wages and the stability of the network.

“Our members at Transfield face being forced into dependent contracting with an outfit called Visionstream, which wants them to buy their own van and tools and assume all the risk of the operation themselves.

“There is an industry-wide issue here which is Telecom’s refusal to face up to its responsibility to its staff and to its customers. If Telecom is allowed to get away with this the end result will be unreliable network maintenance with a built-in incentive to get the job done fast rather than doing it right.

“That’s not in the interests of our members and it’s not in the interests of Telecom’s customers. That’s why we’re standing up to it with today’s action.”

The strike action will affect Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Blenheim, Nelson and Christchurch.

The EPMU represents 45,000 members nationwide, including 1500 in the telecommunications industry.

ENDS

© Scoop Media