Synovate call centre truce on uneasy footing

NEW ZEALAND-- A truce between Synovate and the union representing 30 of its Auckland call centre workers was on an uneasy footing today – less than 48 hours after a lockout was resolved.

The dust had only just settled on an earlier dispute, which saw Unite union members temporarily shut out by the agency, when another row threatened to kick off.

Unite was irked by a statement put out by Synovate announcing the resolution of the lockout. The company said both sides had pledged to negotiate a performance pay scheme for interviewing staff, but stressed that no pay rises had been agreed.

The union dismissed this as “corporate propaganda,” standing by its own statement that pay rises and improvements in conditions had been agreed and that pay increases would amount to $1 an hour.

According to a copy of the “Memorandum of Understanding”, which was posted today on Unite's website, the deal on the table is for staff to receive two 50-cent-an-hour pay rises, six months apart, based on satisfactory performance reviews.

Crucially, however, the memorandum states that the terms will only be deemed to have been agreed in principle “subject to the conclusion of the overall collective bargaining”.

Outstanding matters still to be resolved are the union's claim for a $100 payment to each member of staff affected by the lockout and the pass-on of collectively negotiated conditions to the 120 call centre employees who are not union members.

Negotiations are set to last six weeks.

Author: Brian Tarran

Related links:

Pay deal ends dispute at NZ call centre

Synovate call centre workers in NZ ‘on hunger strike'

Interviewer strike action ‘could make things worse' says Surveytalk