Strike action to close 999 call centre for 12 hours

Operators in one of the State’s three emergency 999 call centres are to go on strike for 12 hours on Thursday over pay and trade union recognition.

The strike takes place at the Navan call centre but the other 999 centres in Dublin and Ballyshannon will operate as normal.

The Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) said the industrial action was limited to one centre to ensure it did not interfere with vital emergency call answer services.

Conduit Global, the company which operates the 999 emergency call service, said it was "very disappointed" the union was going ahead with the stirke despite significant progress in engagements with staff in recent weeks.

Steve Fitzpatrick, general secretary for the CWU, said the union had been clear that it remained open to talks with BT and Conduit Global.

The contract for the emergency call answering service was awarded to BT Ireland in 2009 by the Department of Communications. BT then outsourced the work to Conduit Global.

“Unsurprisingly, the companies that brought us the toilet break policy seem to be incapable of comprehending demands for basic respect, a living wage and the freedom of workers to choose who should represent them,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.

“The level of public support for these workers and their issues has given them a huge boost in their pursuit of decency and respect.”

Mr Fitzpatrick said their members had been campaigning for “dignity and respect” in the workplace for the last 18 months.

The union said it wanted Conduit Global, to deal with a number of issues including the introduction of a pay rate of €11.50 per hour, an immediate end to unnecessary and punitive suspensions, and the negotiation of a fair corrective action policy, a fair on-call policy and collective bargaining.

“Our mandate allows us extend industrial action if BT/Conduit continue to ignore the claims before them,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.

Both BT and Conduit refuses to negotiate with the union.

In a statement Conduit global said: “Facts have been widely reported that rebut the union’s claims and these include that staff’s average pay are already above Living Wage; suspension and leave policy has been changed and the ‘time off the phones policy’ revoked and we have listened to staff to create a new on-call schedule.

“Elections of staff representatives took place last week and were welcomed by the staff. The union, whose membership in our company is unknown, does not seem to be up-to-date on the changes within our company and the positive feedback received from employees.”