Union pickets Telecom AGM, customers face delays

Visionstream, which officially began its contract to maintain Telecom’s network in Northland and Auckland today, faces a backlog of work – in Northland alone there are around 900 outstanding faults.Chorus spokesperson Robin Kelly says Northland customers can expect delays of up to two weeks for services such as getting their telephone faults restored or switching their phone number to a new location. Priority will be given to essential services. In Auckland customers can expect a three-day delay.Chorus expects the backlog to be cleared by the end of the month. “There is a plan in place to restore service levels by the end of October,” says Kelly.The fibre to the node project has not been affected by the industrial action.In taking over the service contracts for Auckland and Northland Visionstream has not reemployed the line engineers from the previous contractor; instead the company has sought to make the former employees of Downers and Transfield owner/operators who contract their labour to Visionstream.The new model is fiercely opposed by the EPMU, which has held a number of strikes and protests, the latest being a demonstration outside Telecom’s AGM today (pictured above is EPMU representative Joe Gallagher, behind him is a giant inflatable rat that greeted shareholders this morning).At the AGM, Bruce Sheppard from the NZ Shareholders Association referred to the picket line as “the floor show out front”. He made the comment during his response to Tim Rooke’s (ultimately failed) bid to get onto the board. Rooke’s pitch was that if elected he would spend a day a week at Telecom conducting a “management audit”. Sheppard queried how many board members took the time to talk to customers and junior staff.Two shareholders spoke on behalf of the workers, with one woman claiming that 700 technicians had been through a “gruelling process.”“I believe what you have done is immoral and is an insult to Kiwi working people.”Chairman Wayne Boyd told her that the striking workers are not Telecom employees, but he said they would try to assist people through the process of transition. Boyd had earlier voiced strong support for the Visionstream contract, claiming that in Australia – where the company is based – it is delivering better customer service.He also told shareholders that Visionstream had almost completed its recruitment drive for owner/operators. Although after the meeting Kelly told Telecommunications Review there are “still opportunities, in Northland in particular.