OCIS Strikers Locked Out of Call Centre

In New Zealand, 59 call centre staff at Oceania Customer Interaction Service (OCIS) have been locked out by their employer, after going on strike in protest over wages.

Earlier in the month, a dozen mostly teenage Unite Union members took action to put pressure on the firm to raise their wages to $15 an hour.

The company, which was previously owned by Nielsen, undertakes research for large government departments and city councils from its call centres in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

According to the union, strike leaders Kyran Stoltenkamp and Paul Bell-Butler, were threatened by managers saying they would call the police after strikers went to the lunch room to eat pizza and play table tennis.

'The employees are paid $12.50, which next week will be minimum wage. They have been told they must accept a contract at this rate or remain locked out,' explained Unite Union National Director, Mike Treen. 'We are not going to be intimidated by this corporation, which is using a very vicious tactic to intimidate our mostly teenage membership.'

Unite is currently bargaining for collective agreements at seven research companies in Auckland as part of the 'Calling for Change' campaign which aims to negotiate improved wages and conditions for its six hundred call centre members working at TNS, SurveyTalk, Synovate, UMR, Phoenix, MarketPulse, OCIS, Colmar Brunton, DigiPoll and Reid Research.

'This lock out will not be tolerated and from Monday onwards we will be asking the Council of Trade Unions, the New Zealand Union of Students Associations and their affiliates to request that their members refuse to help the company complete surveys for the duration of the lock-out', said Treen.

According to local reports, Unite is meeting with OCIS management to negotiate raising workers' pay, and Treen says he is hopeful for a settlement.

Web sites: www.ocis.com.au and www.unite.org.nz .