NZ Field Staff Strike over Conditions

Interviewers working for data collection firm SurveyTalk in Auckland, New Zealand have gone on strike. The action is described as a protest at the firm's failure to improve rates of pay and health and safety standards, or to allow staff to take annual leave.

According to private sector union Unite, all twenty-seven interviewers walked off the job last night as part of its 'Calling for Change' campaign which aims to win union contracts with improved conditions, rates of pay and healthy workplaces at nine of New Zealand's major market research companies.

The union described SurveyTalk's night workers' conditions as unsafe, stressful, and unhygienic. Unite says that if asked, workers are told to say they are calling from Paddington, Sydney so that their employer can avoid paying union rates of pay or provide the safe working conditions which must be observed in Australia.

'Most Auckland SurveyTalk workers earn about NZ$13 an hour - or half of what Sydney SurveyTalk workers get (A$21.05),' said Unite National Director Mike Treen. 'It's a disgrace that workers relied upon by major Australian corporations for market intelligence are being treated like battery hens. As long as SurveyTalk ignores our reasonable claims for living wages and full work rights the possibility of ongoing strike action at their Auckland call centre will continue.'

Treen says that workers have no job security and have never had the opportunity to take paid holidays because they are treated as casuals, despite some having held positions for the last four years.

'They regularly have their pay date moved and do not even have the most basic of health and safety items available such as anti-septic wipes to clean shared workstations, headsets and mouthpieces before use,' he added. 'We have been discussing these issues with SurveyTalk for months but their Australian bosses seem not to care about how they treat New Zealand workers.'

Earlier in the month, Unite instructed its lawyers to file a case against the Digipoll research company citing the continued victimisation of union members at its Hamilton call centre.

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

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.