The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) on Wednesday said it had begun consulting with members about the nature and timing of industrial action, which could include work stoppages or bans.
CEPU national president Ed Husic said that despite the best efforts of the CEPU and other unions to reach a collective agreement, Telstra has consistently rejected requests to negotiate.
"Our members have been very patient up till now, and Telstra has had a game plan where basically they were saying one thing to us publicly, and a game plan behind the scenes that involved non-union agreements," Husic said.
Husic accused the telco of trying to squeeze everything it could out of the Work Choices laws introduced by the former Howard government.
"Telstra management believes they can ignore the outcome of the last election, a string of failed ballots for non-union agreements and public opinion polling telling Telstra that they should talk to unions about a new agreement," he said.
"Our members have been patient and wanted to bargain in good faith, but they have mortgages and rising living costs to deal with."
"They want a union agreement with a decent pay rise tied to it - and they have told us they're prepared to take industrial action to secure this."
Member and delegate briefings have been held in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania.
Meetings will be held in the coming weeks to start planning for industrial action in SA and WA.
