Strike action at call centre over pay and sick leave

Call centre workers at Sitel’s Onehunga call centre will strike today after their employer, the US multi-national, Sitel refused to offer them a pay rise, and agree to fair treatment when they use sick leave.

Dozens of workers will strike for three hours from 2pm this afternoon, in support of their claims.

Almost all of the call centre staff work on behalf of insurance giant, IAG, which has a huge share of the New Zealand insurance market.

E tū Organiser, Anita Rosentreter says, “This is a global contact-centre giant and they can afford to pay more.

“These workers are predominantly young migrants and they are taking a brave stand against a multi-national company for a fair and reasonable wage increase.”

Workers are also angry over privacy breaches by Sitel, which times toilet breaks and uses bullying tactics when workers are sick to get them back to work.

“They don’t want workers to use their sick leave entitlements because those are hours they can’t bill for, but we’re talking about human beings here. We all get sick.” says Anita

“This company takes invasions of employees’ privacy to new levels. Managers comment on employees’ diet and exercise regimes and ask invasive questions about their health.

“These workers want to be treated fairly and with dignity when they take sick leave, not to have their privacy invaded every time they need to take a couple of days off.

“We want rules around how the company conducts itself when people take sick leave – a fair, measured process which respects the privacy of our members.”

ENDS

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