The past several years have been some of the most difficult in our working lives, but the experience of the telecommunications workers in New Zealand shows that what we have been experiencing is no accident.

What happened in New Zealand is detailed in an analysis by Union Network International (UNI), the international labour organization of which the TWU is an affiliate. This analysis, entitled The New Zealand Story, (full report available on website) describes in detail the union busting strategy employed by New Zealand Telecom when the Company was taken over by two giant American transnational corporations; Ameritech, which is now known as SBC and Bell Atlantic, which has since become Verizon. Verizon is also TELUS' parent Company.

According to the UNI analysis, the new management at New Zealand Telecom set out to undermine the workers' strength and to eliminate the protections provided by the workers' Collective Agreement. In their efforts to weaken the workforce, the new management team was aided by the National Party government's vicious anti-union legislation and by the collapse of the CEWU, the union that represented the workers in the Company.

When the EPMU succeeded the CEWU, Telecom NZ simply refused to bargain with the new organization. As a result, many of the workers formerly covered by the Collective Agreement are now being paid piece rates. That means they are not paid a regular wage, but rather on the basis of the individual jobs they do. For example, if they are assigned a job that requires them to travel to a site and repair a trouble, they will no longer be paid for their travel time. Furthermore, they will receive a fixed amount for that job regardless of the time it takes to complete it. If there is a repeat trouble, the worker has some of the pay he or she originally received for that job deducted from their cheque.

Installation work in customers' premises is also paid on a piecework basis. For example, there is a flat rate paid for jacks, regardless of how difficult the job is. The same is true for running aerial cables.

Everyone knows that some jobs are easier than others and that more money can be made if you are assigned a series of easy jobs. So being on good terms with the dispatcher becomes essential. Many of the workers at New Zealand Telecom complain of favouritism and that some workers make a lot more money than others because they are very close friends with the dispatcher and are therefore getting all the easy jobs. This has created serious dissention within the workforce.

When there is a shortage of work, those who are on good terms with the dispatcher are the first to get assigned. Others who are not on such close terms are forced to make do with the work that is left over.

Under the new management regime at New Zealand Telecom, there are serious health and safety problems. Workers are reluctant to lay out cones when they work on roadways, to protect manholes when they lift covers, or to pump water out of manholes, as this all takes extra time and they are only getting paid per job rather than by the hour. So they cut corners in an attempt to get by.

One worker, who had more than 20 years seniority, was made redundant by Telecom NZ. He was experienced in designing, installing and maintaining all types of transmission equipment, including large fibre systems, rural carrier systems, microwave radio, etc. After being let go by Telecom NZ, he was hired by a contractor who required him to bid on installation jobs and to update and maintain drawings and records after those jobs were complete. He was also forced to work on troubles and faults, and to undertake routine maintenance on transmission equipment on a call-out basis. His individual contract paid him the rate of pay he got ten years before at Telecom NZ even though his job now includes considerable extra responsibility. He is not paid premium rates for after hours callouts.

The contractor he worked for was given responsibility for doing all the transmission work in a large metropolitan area with only 10% of the workers that Telecom NZ had employed to do the same work. You can imagine the pressure to perform that this created.

Why am I bothering to describe all this? Because this is the same game plan that is being pursued by TELUS and their parent Company, Verizon.

It is clear that the "new" TELUS agenda is:
• To be able to contract out your work to the lowest cost provider.
• To implement a system of variable pay where most, if not all of your pay will depend on what you produce.
• To take away hard-bargained job security and working conditions:
• You would be required to work overtime at the whim of your supervisor.
• You would lose rights to grieve and be successful if you are treated unfairly and in violation of any agreement.
• The Employer would have increased abilities to demote or fire you.
• They want to be able to determine your future and your job based solely on what they determine your merits are. How long you have worked for the Company or your seniority will not matter.
• To take over complete control of health and safety on the job site. We have already seen an increase in "close calls" and a serious deterioration of the Employer's attitude toward your health and safety on the job site. The Union will always fight to ensure that you are able to return home from work healthy.
• To refuse to bargain a respectful revised Collective Agreement.

Ever since Darren Entwistle took over the Company, he and his team have refused to meet with us to discuss issues of concern. At the bargaining table they have refused to renew a single clause in the existing Collective Agreement. Instead, they insist that we start from scratch and draw up a totally new Collective Agreement. In short, they propose to destroy everything that we have worked so hard to achieve over the years. Their aim is to do to us what they did to the workers at New Zealand Telecom.

None of us are asking for anything unreasonable. We would simply like to be treated with respect for the work we do, to provide customers with high quality service, and to work with the Company in ironing out problems. Unfortunately, this is not what the TELUS management has in mind.

Things don't look good for us right now. But it is important to keep a positive perspective. We have been pushed to the wall by management before, but with the help and active participation of our members, we have succeeded in turning back similar anti-union attacks in the past.

The TWU intends to pursue the full range of tactical and strategic options that we have at our disposal, including our alliances with other unions as well as with consumer groups and members of the general public who, like us, have been getting the short end of the stick from TELUS. Ultimately however, TWU's greatest source of strength is you - the membership. So we intend to call a series of Special Membership Meetings to ask you to give us the backing we need in the form of a strong strike mandate. It may not be necessary to employ the strike tool, but experience tells us that the best way to prevent an all-out confrontation with TELUS is to let them know that we will stand up for our rights and fully prepare for one.

This organization has a proud history, whose latest chapter is being written as we speak. I have every confidence that by working together we will succeed in making this chapter one that we will remember with pride.

In solidarity,

Rod Hiebert, President