Workers at Ireland’s 999 call centres have announced plans for strike action, with a 12 hour work stoppage expected to take place in the coming weeks before the election.
A strong majority of 88 per cent of the Communication Workers’ Union who represent the call workers voted in favour of taking industrial action at Conduit Global – the company who currently runs the emergency call service.
Workers are looking for a commitment from company bosses that Conduit will pay a Living Wage of €11.50 per hour. They also still face a threat of disciplinary action for spending too long in the bathroom.
The 999 Branch of the CWU met on Tuesday to discuss industrial action, with
Commenting on the decision to strike, CWU general secretary Steve Fitzpatrick said:
“I want to commend our members for taking this brave decision. For the first time, Conduit/BT appears to be taking the concerns of their workers seriously. This is only happening as a direct result of the ballot for industrial action.
“However, the company is still refusing to concede on any of the key issues at the heart of this dispute. If the Conduit bosses want to avoid a strike they need to address the four legitimate requests our members have made.”
However, Conduit has criticised the proposed action, with a BT spokesperson adding:
“It is very disappointing that a trade union, which is not recognised by BT or Conduit, has decided to take this unnecessary course of action in relation to the vital emergency call answering service”.
“We are unaware of the details of the union ballot or the number of union members who plan to step away from their phones as we have only learned of this news from the national media”.
