First we sack you then we spy on you

Written By: - Date published: 1:12 pm, September 20th, 2009 - 14 comments
Categories: class war - Tags:

The Sunday Star Times reports [page 4, currently offline] that Telecom has hired a private investigation company, Corporate Investigations, to spy on the lines engineers it sacked and is now trying to force into dependent contracting.

That’s right, not content with ripping these workers’ livelihoods out of their hands Telecom now has them under surveillance and is threatening them. I reckon they’ll be doing it so they can target the workers who are not protesting to hard-sell them the crappy contracts and to try and scare protesting workers into silence.

Doesn’t look like that’s going to work. The workers union, the EPMU, is going to push for all files on its members to be released.

Also, doesn’t look like Telecom has a chance of silencing the locals who have had no phones for weeks and are subsequently losing thousands from their small businesses and having their safety put at risk.

This all shows is that Telecom doesn’t give a f*ck about its workers or its customers or its image. The only thing they seem to care about is ripping as many dollars out of their decaying network as they can to pay for their big fat salaries.

We’ve put up with these greedy corporate thugs and the class war they’ve waged against ordinary Kiwis for too long. It’s time to take the network off them and show them the door.

14 comments on “First we sack you then we spy on you ”

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  1. jason 1
    20 September 2009 at 3:07 pm

    Well put.
    I have on friday just voted with my fellow workers to strike in support of the continuing fight of the northerners. Visionless in union with teleom have deliberately made life hard in the telecommunications industry. I work for transfield and in the patch I work in there are 16 technicians; by october there will be 4 less. Yes 4 are being made redundant. Transfield, an Aussy company, have signed their 10 year contract and after 5 years in the game consistently losing money have made a tactical decision to drop staff in order to produce a profit. Cant blame them really. Telethon have made the environment extremely difficult to make money in. I actually applaud them to some degree. It does however irk me that an Aussy company is showing us that they will not put up with teledumb while we have let them do us time and again.
    1 guy in our union voted for notional, would it come as a surprise that on the vote to back our comrades by striking someone voted not to and then proceeded to plead poverty. Unbelievable he just got his tax cuts. He is the reason I cant stand right whingers. Anyhow his stance came across as a bit of excuse to save not paying the union fees. He then informed us he will be pulling out because the union did not give him enough notice of its intentions. The last strike we voted for he put sick leave on his time sheet. Typical money hungry selfish prick if you ask me.
    We all cant afford to strike but we have some strong moral, ethical even ideollogical beliefs. Together we bargain divided we beg.

  2. BLiP 2
    20 September 2009 at 4:39 pm

    I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: the only way to communicate effectively with the corporates is to “smack” their bottom line. Cadbury’s know that. No doubt there would be a change of approach at Telescum when the eftpos cables start malfunctioning and businesses begin to suffer as well as domestic consumers.

    Classic New Zealand Fox News Herald. That story you link to states that Telescum’s customers are:

    the victims of strike action by workers for Telecom’s network infrastructure division, Chorus, and its Australian-owned contractor, Visionstream.

    Like fuck. The truth of the matter is that the customers affected by the strike action are the victims of Telescum’s Human Resources division!

  3. IrishBill 3
    20 September 2009 at 5:26 pm

    The problem you have with hitting Telecom’s bottom line is they are the only ones with a national network. If you don’t use Telecom you don’t use anyone.

    It’s a monopoly that should never have been allowed and I agree with Zet that the only answer is to renationalise it.

    • gargoyle 3.1
      20 September 2009 at 5:41 pm

      “…the only answer is to renationalise it.”

      With whose money ?

      • IrishBill 3.1.1
        20 September 2009 at 5:47 pm

        Money? I don’t think so. Telecom have seen enough of our money already.

        Given how much investment is going to be needed to fix the network after years of underinvestment by Telecom I’d say a fair rate would be what we paid for the rail network.

        • gargoyle 3.1.1.1
          20 September 2009 at 6:52 pm

          Somehow I don’t think the Telecom shareholders will sell it for that kind of price.

          • Marty G 3.1.1.1.1
            20 September 2009 at 6:56 pm

            well I wasn’t happy about the price we got when we sold the network to them and I don’t think many other New Zealanders were either. Yet we had that forced on us. So, seems to about balance out, eh?

            • gargoyle 3.1.1.1.1.1
              20 September 2009 at 9:19 pm

              Um what ?

              Telecom purchased the telecommunications assets from the Post Office for NZ$3.2 billion in 1987 and has invested a fair whack since then I suspect …..and you’re suggesting it’s reasonable to nationalise the network for the price of a cup of tea.

              Methinks you won’t get much support for that apart from the terminally bewildered.

            • Marty G 3.1.1.1.1.2
              20 September 2009 at 9:21 pm

              So Sharples will be all aboard then 🙂

        • Swampy 3.1.1.2
          20 September 2009 at 8:24 pm

          That’s absolute nonsense, millions has been spent on Telecom’s network by Telecom. Right now, all around the country, cabinets are going in on streetsides for example, new fibre etc. The network hasn’t stood still in the past 22 years.

          The cost of what was paid for the rail network is what Labour paid Toll to buy out their operations last year – because the $1 paid to buy just the tracks included a 99 year exclusive access agreement for Toll guaranteeing their income from the rail operations for that period. A commercial assessment of the value of Telecom’s network is probably in the range of several hundred million dollars.

          Are you justifying legalised theft from ordinary New Zealanders who are shareholders in Telecom. Labour tried this pretty hard when they pushed through operational separation last year.

          • BLiP 3.1.1.2.1
            20 September 2009 at 8:31 pm

            Telescum is already “legally” thieving from ordinary New Zealanders by denying them the services they are paying for and forcing them to spend money they don’t have to use cell phones. Its like if you buy a new car but then the dealer comes along the next day and takes it away and says “use a taxi”.

  4. jabba 4
    20 September 2009 at 7:17 pm

    appalling behaviour buy a major NZ company.

    • BLiP 4.1
      20 September 2009 at 9:43 pm

      Yes, jabba, it is appalling behaviour.

      Given your position on unions, perhaps best summed up when you said . . .

      A big Oz company in my area just started a sort of anti union policy and I’m worried it will blow up big time soon .. The Labour Presidents union will lead it .. mm

      . . . how would you suggest the situation be dealt with?

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