THE Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, called on Telstra yesterday to respect the right of its employees to be represented by unions in negotiations for new collective agreements.
Ms Gillard said the Government wanted to see co-operative industrial relations at all major companies.
"We want to see people's rights in the workplace respected, and that includes, of course, if they have chosen to join a union, having the union able to represent them," she said.
She was commenting on news that Telstra had drawn up plans to offer its staff non-union collective agreements, which are expected to save as much as $50 million over the next three years.
The ACTU secretary, Jeff Lawrence, accused the company of acting dishonestly by going through the motions of negotiating with unions while planning to offer non-union agreements.
A Telstra spokesman, Martin Barr, said negotiations with the unions had broken down because the unions had been pursuing a political agenda.
"We're now talking to our staff about collective agreements, things that will benefit them, that will make sure that they've got the best terms and conditions," Mr Barr told ABC Radio.
Two internal Telstra documents obtained by the Herald show the company plans to offer non-union deals in individual business units this month.
The documents, prepared for senior managers, say the deals would provide a 10 per cent pay rise over three years with scope for high performers to gain an extra 8 per cent. If employees voted against the new agreements, they would not get any rise before October next year.