Matt McCarten: Can 700 Davids beat a corporate Goliath?

A classic class battle between Corporate Greed and Organised Labour is under way. On the corporate side we have the giant Telecom determined to maximise its profits and on the workers' side is the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU).

Less than two months ago, Telecom announced it was ending its two biggest network engineering contracts and told the workers that they would only keep their jobs if they transferred to a new company, Visionstream, which has set up shop next to Telecom's corporate headquarters.

Redundancies will start taking place in a couple of weeks.

The first phase will affect 700 workers in Auckland and Northland but will then be run out across the country, involving upwards of 2000 tradespeople.

You might think this is quite normal business practice. But this has huge implications for many thousands more Kiwi workers employed by corporations.

Telecom, in my opinion, has come to terms with the fact that the days are over of using its monopoly to screw their customers blind.

So some bright spark has come up with another creative way to keep profits rolling in.

Visionstream says it will take these workers only if they agree to become dependent contractors. This means they lose union and employee rights and become self-employed contractors with little protection.

They'll be required to buy their own vans and equipment that they have been told will cost $60,000. An accountant's analysis of the new contracts estimates the workers will lose between half and two-thirds of their income.

Just to rub salt in the wounds, the contract doesn't actually guarantee the workers an income, yet requires extra work for no pay and allows Visionstream to issue fines.

Most of the workers are EPMU members but Visionstream refuses to even meet the union.

Telecom pretends it has nothing to do with them even though the changes come out of their lines division and they are fronting the media on behalf of Visionstream.

The few workers who are desperate for the work and have tried to discuss changes to the dependent contracts have been told it's non-negotiable. I almost laughed when I read in a business newspaper that first blood was to Telecom because they had six workers sign the new contracts. Six out of 700? Give me a break.

But the fact it was the banner story on the front page shows that the ideological right-wing business players have a lot riding on smashing these workers. My concern is that if Telecom gets away with this, others will follow suit.

Telecom is obviously confident it can subdue its high-skilled workers into giving up their job security and incomes.

So much for the greatly lauded push for the high-wage economy our Government and business community insist they are striving for. I wonder what part of catching up with Australia this particular strategy falls under?

What amazes me is how arrogant and callous our corporate barons become when, I think, policies like this clearly ruin the lives of their workers - just so they can strut a little more at their shareholders' meetings.

There are not many times the union movement gets its act together and unites around a dispute that doesn't directly affect them. I think this is one of them, in the same way the Progressive Supermarket lock-out of its workers was.

The Telecom workers have said they will refuse to accept redundancy or sign on as Visionstream's contractors. In two weeks they won't have a job. The lines will go unstaffed and Telecom services will start falling down.

If enough New Zealanders move quickly and tell Telecom that if their services are affected they will move their business, then I think the workers will win.

There's a working class adage: "An injury to one is an injury to all". We are our brothers' (and sisters') keepers. Think about it.