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

NEW ZEALAND-- Several employees took part in a strike earlier this month at a New Zealand research call centre run by Australian company Oceania Customer Interaction Services (OCIS), according to the Unite union.

Unite said in a statement that “around a dozen mostly teenaged” workers were involved in the strike action on the evening of 5 March, “downing headphones and walking out of telephone briefings with the company's clients”.

The strike was part of the union's Calling for Change campaign, which is pushing for better wages and conditions for workers at several call centres in Auckland, and has led to strikes at centres run by Synovate and Surveytalk.

The workers were protesting over their $12.50 per hour pay rate and demanding at least $15 per hour from the company.

“We are going to keep striking and protesting until we win $15 an hour,” said Kyran Stoltenkamp, one of the union delegates who is leading the strike action.

The union has criticised firms for paying New Zealand workers less than their Australian counterparts. But Surveytalk, which was hit by a strike in December, argued that the low cost of operating in New Zealand gave the country a competitive edge for telephone research work – an advantage that could be put at risk by strike action.

Representatives of OCIS were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

Author: Robert Bain

Related links:

Synovate call centre workers in NZ ‘on hunger strike'

Surveytalk defends practices at strike-hit New Zealand call centre