Posts Tagged ‘telecom’

The end of Kiwishare

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, June 20th, 2011 - 18 comments

The autocratic National government is changing the Kiwishare obligation of Telecom without consultation or notice. They say obligations will be the same, but they will no longer be legal restrictions, but changeable company “deeds”.

Anyone else make a connection?

Written By: - Date published: 12:34 pm, April 16th, 2010 - 34 comments

Last year, Telecom screws over its engineers. Decides to make them dependent contractors. EPMU wins real jobs for most of them. Better contract conditions for others. But a sh*tload of experienced engineers say screw Telecom and leave the industry. Then the faults start. XT becomes a laughingstock. Customers leave in droves. Next, profit warning.

On Gattung’s revisionist history of Telecom

Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, March 5th, 2010 - 15 comments

Over at Scoop, Gordon Campbell takes Theresa Gattung to task for her revisionist history of Telecom in the Dominion Post this morning.

More than anything, her latest outburst reveals her clanging naivety and complete inability to take personal responsibility for her failures.

‘Atlases’ don’t deserve a tax cut

Written By: - Date published: 9:47 am, February 24th, 2010 - 67 comments

This man is Paul Reynolds, CEO of Telecom. He has overseen the largest corporate disaster in recent New Zealand history. The Nats are planning to give him over $6,600 a week in tax cuts. Apparently this screw up on a $7 million salary is the kind of guy New Zealand needs.

Privatisation failures: Telecom

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, January 28th, 2010 - 28 comments

If Telecom were an SOE there would be cries to privatise it. These repeated crashes of XT simply aren’t good enough. Just the latest in a litany of failures since it was sold. Fact is, we should haven’t sold Telecom in the first place. Just needed to start running it properly. Now, we’re sending profits overseas […]

Industrial roundup: Telecom

Written By: - Date published: 1:03 pm, October 5th, 2009 - 1 comment

Visionstream completed its takeover of the Auckland and Northland patch on Thursday and it’s now become clear that they’ve failed to meet the terms of their contract with Telecom as workers have continued to hold out despite being made redundant. The situation is just crazy. Because of Telecom’s mismanagement there are now hundreds of redundant […]

No pay freeze at the top

Written By: - Date published: 9:28 am, September 23rd, 2009 - 11 comments

It seems the trend of rewarding company bosses with extravagant pay rises regardless of performance isn’t limited to Telecom’s $7 million man, Paul Reynolds. The Dom Post reports the bosses of Contact and Skellerup have been given huge pay rises, despite both companies’ profits taking a dive in the last year. Contact’s managing director David […]

First we sack you then we spy on you

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

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 […]

Time for Telecom to come to its senses

Written By: - Date published: 5:43 am, September 11th, 2009 - 11 comments

Today, 200 Telecom engineers in Auckland and Northland will be fired. Not because there’s no work for them but because Telecom and it’s $7 million CEO want to cut ‘labour costs’  – that’s workers’ incomes, families’ livelihoods to you and me. Here’s how Telecom’s scam goes.  Currently, the engineers are employees of Telecom contractors Transfield […]

Telecom solidarity fundraiser

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, September 10th, 2009 - 18 comments

Socialist Aotearoa have organised a Telecom solidarity fundraiser on Friday night. Not for $7m man Paul Reynolds, but for the lines engineers his contractors are busy laying off with no redundancy and trying to force into sham dependent contracts. If you’re in Auckland head along and show your support. The engineers are sure going to […]

Telecom and the logic of capitalism

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 1st, 2009 - 69 comments

There’s nothing like a Tory Government in power and a monopolistic corporate flexing its muscle to remind you that capitalism is all about serving the bosses and screwing the workers. This Telecom dispute. The engineers are being made redundant from their current roles already in batches. On October 1, all the jobs will be gone […]

Ultra-fast broadband? Eventually, but not now

Written By: - Date published: 8:46 am, August 25th, 2009 - 17 comments

For what seems like the fiftieth time, we’re being told to expect an announcement from Steven Joyce on the shape of the Government’s ultra-fast broadband investment programme. It’s been nine months now and he hasn’t managed to produce anything solid, let alone get the legislative process underway. Before the election, we were told that $1.5 […]

Telecom’s profits first, NZ second

Written By: - Date published: 12:07 pm, August 20th, 2009 - 37 comments

You’ve heard about the Telecom dispute. But while a lot of the focus has been on what it means for the lines engineers involved, an equally important issue is what it means for the future of our country’s infrastructure. Because basically, this whole dispute is a sympton of Telecom’s attempts to increase its profits at […]

Big issues in Telecom lines strike

Written By: - Date published: 4:45 pm, August 11th, 2009 - 32 comments

It’s great to see all the lines engineers standing up to Telecom’s attempt to strip away their employment rights and turn them into dependent contractors. I was lucky enough to catch the protest above yesterday (not my photo though), and there was a lot of passion from the guys. There’s a good reason for that […]

More on the Commerce Commission

Written By: - Date published: 6:55 pm, March 21st, 2009 - 14 comments

On Thursday I linked to a piece in the NBR that suggested Simon Power’s appointment of Dr Mark Berry to replace Paula Rebstock at the Commerce Commission hinted at a radical shakeup of the consumer watchdog. Today John Drinnan has an in-depth piece in the Herald that suggests radical reform is indeed on the way, […]

Telco hits out at National’s fibre plan

Written By: - Date published: 3:47 pm, September 2nd, 2008 - 34 comments

John Drinnan in the NZ Herald: “One of the biggest challengers in the telecommunications business, TelstraClear, has attacked National Party plans for a fibre-optic network, saying the party should be focused on business. “The telco says the main result of faster broadband links to the home may be more downloads of pornography and movies rather […]

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