Telecommunications
What happens with overtime now?
(15 June, 2009): The backlog of work created by the CEPU’s seven month industrial campaign remains a major problem for Telstra. So it is likely that employees in some areas will find themselves being asked to do substantial amounts of overtime.
Under the Telstra awards, employees can be required to perform reasonable overtime.
But there are obviously limits to what is reasonable, especially if the amount of overtime you are being asked to do raises health and safety problems or conflicts with a normal work/life balance.
It is important for members always to exercise some control over the amount of overtime they perform.
Make sure you:
• Do not perform unpaid overtime
• Strictly ob serve all breaks
• Don’t cut corners on health and safety
• Don’t work on your RDO – it took union members a long time to win them.
Members should contact their state branch if they believe they are being required to work an unreasonable amount of overtime or are not being paid appropriately.