Government should not contract with Telecom for broadband

The Council of Trade Unions today called on the Government to halt any negotiations with Telecom over the roll out of broadband until Telecom agrees to treat its workers better. “The Government should not be doing business with Telecom while it is selling out its line engineers to exploitative subcontracting arrangements with Visionstream,” said CTU President Helen Kelly.

“The Government has launched a number of initiatives to protect jobs during this recession and has ensured initiatives like its youth employment programmes include requirements around minimum wages and training. It needs to make sure the bottom line from these programmes is not undermined by contracting with companies with bad employment practices such as Telecom.”

“Government procurement is a key way governments can practice their own Corporate Social Responsibility. When contracting with business the Government should be setting minimum expectations including ensuring that companies who carry out government work have good employment practices, are training new workers and are meeting expected health and safety standards and the like. The reality is that poor performing companies end up costing the tax payer extra money including through benefit payments, injury costs, poor performance and so on – it makes sense that Government gets choosey.”

“Telecom through its contractor Visionstream has shown complete disregard for all of these things – they are bullying workers into bad contracts, putting at risk apprentices in the middle of their training, and will put worker safety at risk because bad contracts put people under pressure to work long hours and take short cuts to make a living.”

“These workers have visited MPs up and down the country and a number of Government MPs have offered support and disagree with the Telecom approach. Now is the time for Government to up the pressure and make it clear to Telecom that if it wants Government business it needs to up its standards.”

The decision to call on Government to halt the negotiations comes from the CTU National Affiliates Council meeting on Thursday (20 August) which also saw representatives of all the major unions pledge support for the affected EDI Downers and Transfield engineers in Auckland and Northland, both financially and by joining striking engineers on picket lines across the country today.

ENDS