Chorus subbies ‘too scared’ to speak out
A “climate of fear” has prevented more Chorus subcontractors being charged, the E tu¯ union says.
Last October, the Labour Inspectorate announced the results of a months-long investigation carried out in tandem with Immigration NZ.
Some 73 of 75 Chorus subcontractors investigated were breaching employment laws, the Inspectorate said.
Alleged violations included “volunteer” work or extended training periods without pay, sub-minimum wage pay, failure to keep accurate records and failure to pay holiday pay. In early December, the Inspectorate said it had taken cases against two subcontractors to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) — Sunwin Technologies and Babylon Communications (trading as Clearvision). In January, it laid ERA charges against a third, 3ML Services.
E tu¯ industry co-ordinator Joe Gallagher says he’s not surprised only three of the 73 subcontractors accused of exploitation have been hauled before the ERA.
He says some cases have been resolved through mediation. But he adds that taking a case to the ERA requires workers to appear as witnesses or provide evidence — and most don’t want to.
“It’s difficult because a lot of the guys are quite scared,” Gallagher said. “I wouldn’t say there’s intimidation, but I would say people are scared to get involved in that process — because rightly or wrongly they think if they come forward they won’t get work again.”
Gallagher adds: “The environment
Once it comes out, people are scared they’ll be blacklisted. Joe Gallagher, E tu¯ industry co-ordinator
isn’t geared toward people coming forward and having a no-risk conversation. Once it comes out, people are scared they’ll be blacklisted.”
The Labour Inspectorate had no immediate comment on that point.
More than a dozen employees of Chorus subcontractors have been in touch with the with claims of exploitation or poor conditions, but only one, veteran linesman John Lightfoot, has been willing to be named. He said he was willing to talk about it because he made a fair living during his time as a Telecom linesman, owned his own home and was close to retirement. He said others — often younger, and recent immigrants — were in a more vulnerable position and afraid to be named.
Gallagher says a Visionstream move to replace 11 fulltimers working on Chorus’s copper network with subcontractors represents the UFB model being expanded into Chorus’s traditional business.
Visionstream did not respond to a request for comment. Chorus spokesman Ian Bonnar said it was simply the case that as UFB fibre progressively replaced copper networks, there was less work to go around on the latter.