OCIS ‘locks out striking employees' – union

NEW ZEALAND-- Workers protesting for higher wages at an Auckland call centre have been locked out by their employer, according to the Unite union.

The union said today that 59 of its members had been “indefinitely locked out” of the North Shore call centre owned by the Australian firm Oceania Customer Interaction Service (OCIS).

It also claimed that it is being sued by OCIS for $30,000 in damages.

Workers at the centre have been taking action in the last few weeks to push for their $12.50 per hour pay rate to be raised to what the union calls “a living wage of $15 an hour”. The country's minimum wage, currently set at $12, is set to rise to $12.50 next week.

Several people took part in a strike on 5 March, according to the union, which has also been campaigning for workers at centres run by Synovate and Surveytalk.

Unite's national director Mike Treen said: “We are not going to be intimidated by this corporation, which is using a very vicious tactic to intimidate our mostly teenage membership.”

He also said rallies would be held in Auckland and Melbourne calling on the company to back down and give members living wages, and that the union is calling on the Council of Trade Unions and the New Zealand Union of Students Associations to “request that their members refuse to help the company complete surveys for the duration of the lock-out”.

Representatives of OCIS had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.

Author: Robert Bain

Related links:

OCIS latest to be hit by call centre strike action in New Zealand

Synovate call centre workers in NZ ‘on hunger strike'

Surveytalk defends practices at strike-hit New Zealand call centre