Motorhead – Ace Of Spades 2:50
Telecom technicians in Auckland have gone on an illegal strike (1. they don’t have an employer to strike against, and 2. they didnt give 14 days notice).
Hundreds of the technicians who keep Telecom phone lines going have laid siege to its office in Auckland.
They say the Australian company that has taken over the contract for the work is making them buy their own vans and equipment – and forcing them into debt.
Visionstream has taken over the contract to maintain Telecom’s copper cabling in Auckland and the North, and instead of supplying vans and gear, workers will be told they need to set up their own small businesses as owner operators.
“We were told last Thursday we were losing our jobs,” says Technician Tom Henson.
“I have been through the anger, the depression, the stress.”
But buying vans and specialist equipment could cost up to $60,000, saddling each worker with huge debt.
“Any issues, any downtime, any problems that occur, will be my risk entirely,” says Technician Peter Kelly.
They say Visionstream has ignored them, so the meeting moved onto the streets and up the corporate ladder to the company at the top – Telecom.
“We know the industry is going backwards,” says one technician.
“I wouldn’t let my kids, my nephews or nieces join nowadays.”
A convoy of hundreds of vans arrived at Telecom’s office tower, but the gates were locked and reception was poor.
A Telecom spokesman told 3 News that the workers should be taking their concerns to Visionstream.
Visionstream say they will offer financial support to those who want to become owner-operators and the costs for each will be different – so it will be talking to them individually.
A message has come round for Wellington’s patch to meet with the EPMU on Wednesday morning to discuss similar things (Sub Contracting and Code Working) Funnily enough it sounds like I’m one of the lucky people avoiding Code work, however I am somewhat worried.
Questions I’d like answered/ Will be taking into my interview with Downer.
-How am I supposed to learn under a code based environment (techs rushing around trying to make a living don’t have time for trainees)
-Will there be forced redundancies once they realise there isnt the work load to pay everyone on codes? And how is this going to effect my training (less qualified people in the work force means less knowledge for me on the job)
-What is eventually going to happen to the network, once quantity based pay replaces quality based pay?
I don’t think codes are as bad as alot of people are making them out to be, We will have to see what Downer offers, but change is scary, and what scares me the most is loosing the older guys who are a wealth of knowledge for me, they’ll forget more then I’ll ever learn.
