The first decade of the Postmaster-General's Department after Federation in 1901 saw a period of dire working conditions, punitive management and wage stagnation for telephonists, amidst a background of departmental mismanagement that resulted in a 1908 Royal Commission.
[6][7][2]: 123, 143 The period saw a significant internal dispute between the federal executive and the New South Wales branch over perceived Victorian dominance of the union and the award claim.
Postmaster-General William Webster responded dismissively to their grievances in October 1919, leading to an angry public response from the union.
The federal executive considered expelling or disaffiliating the New South Wales branch, but the dispute was resolved at a unity conference in October 1921.
[2]: 145–48 A further case to the Public Service Arbitrator (which had been established in 1920) in 1924 won telephonists in the central exchanges in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide a 34-hour week and decreased working hours at other exchanges, but failed in a strong push for equal pay between men and women and limitations on the amount of work expected to be performed.
[2]: 160–62 The Public Service Arbitrator remarked that "one is ashamed that the Government who ought to be a model employer has lagged so far behind" in the working conditions of the telephonists.
[5] In that year, the New South Wales branch celebrated "the best award the union has ever had", noted an improved financial position, and a "considerable increase" in membership.
[21] A militant leadership won control of the New South Wales branch in 1941 under communist Alice McLean and existed alongside the more conservative federal executive for several years.
A further claim for equal pay in 1942 was unsuccessful and later that year, with the pressure of the deployment of male employees during World War II, the union agreed to overcome their longstanding opposition to women's night work without concessions on equal pay or other issues, over the strong opposition of the New South Wales and Queensland branches.
The 1950s saw continued labour shortages and high turnover of workers, while the union leadership tended to be long-serving members working in supervisory roles, with some shared interests with management.
[5][2]: 224, 230–36 Escalating automation into the 1960s led to many redundancies, particularly in country areas, which met with little opposition, although the union stepped up its recruitment efforts to try to address the declining membership.
The union won a general pay increase in 1965, but in 1967 pursued gains for supervisors above lower-level telephonists, resulting in much smaller advances for lower levels.
Several state branches increased their efforts to support members in regional areas dealing with substantial job cuts, sending union leaders to visit and supporting members in regional towns willing to take industrial action, resulting in a series of unpopular decisions being overturned.
In March 1980, after Telecom refused increases, the union held stopwork meetings in three states, deciding to refuse from 24 March to take procedural steps in handling STD calls which would result in cheaper rates for callers, which met with a furious and threatening response from Telecom.
The union ceased the action on 1 April after securing a hearing that month for their wages claim and a guarantee from Telecom that they would drop proposed retaliation against workers involved.
: 323–333 From 1979 to 1983, the union was involved in a sprawling dispute about Telecom's efforts to centralise their facilities and the consequences of those decisions on staffing, pay and conditions.
The union commenced industrial action, taking a range of measures that would cost Telecom, from 23 June to 1 July 1983, when it ceased after Telecom agreed to cease all job cuts until 31 January 1984 with the possibility of extension to provide assistance in obtaining alternative employment for manual exchange workers, and to undertake a joint study of possible ways of maintaining member employment.