By Kim Scott
Responding to allegations made in June on the commercial TV program A Current Affair about "lazy lineys" in Darwin Telstra, management have hired private investigators to observe Telstra staff on and off duty.
Darwin lines installation staff in particular have faced five months of Telstra investigators sharing the same pub for lunch, conducting audits on phone lines and protective workwear and holding individual interviews.
In more covert operations, work in rural areas, off-duty use of cars and even a Melbourne Cup luncheon were observed. In the last case, nine staff faced disciplinary action after taking their (approved) late lunches at their supervisor's house — who was on leave at the time.
Where staff have engaged in counter-surveillance by pursuing the private investigators, their time doing this has been deducted from their pay.
In July, senior management sent a circular to supervisors and managers of field staff to select "independent surveillance operators" to randomly monitor field staff around Australia. Management alleged "various aspects of staff behaviour which fall well outside the Code of Conduct and the policies of Telstra". The circular pointed to abuses such as "ceasing duty early" and "congregations of vehicles at coffee shops, parks, beaches, hotels and clubs".
Telstra investigations into alleged breaches by Darwin field staff filmed without permission by A Current Affair originally led to two local managers being suspended. But allegations were never substantiated and the disciplinary charges were eventually dropped. The same two, however, were sacked on December 6 over failure to comply with "standard operating principles". Gathering evidence for the charges included digging up recently installed cabling to residential homes and checking trenching work partly done by contractors.
Telstra field staff are the main targets of the proposed 23,000 job cuts over the next two years. Telstra is aiming to "outsource" pit and piping work — the area currently under extensive surveillance. Rumours are flying that Telstra is looking to save money by finding grounds to sack longer term staff in order to deny redundancy packages.