999 operators mull further strike action

Further industrial action by a number of 999 operators following yesterday’s 12-hour work stoppage is being considered, the Communications Workers’ Union has warned.

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

Members of the CWU want a living wage of €11.50 an hour from their employers – British Telecom and Conduit Global.

The trade union said it had taken measures to ensure that yesterday’s industrial action did not impact on the emergency call answering service.

CWU general secretary, Steve Fitzpatrick, said they were considering their options for further action.

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

He said CWU members had been campaigning for dignity and respect in the workplace for the last 18 months.

Conduit Global, said it was very disappointed that the union had gone ahead with the strike, despite significant progress in engagement with staff in recent weeks.

BT Ireland said there had been a great turnout of 999 operators in the emergency call answering service centres yesterday.

It said because the union would not reveal the number of members who voted for industrial action, it only had the unofficial feedback to go on — that a large number of employees did not think strike action was necessary.

BT Ireland said an extra fourth site had been set up to give operators a choice of location so as to avoid what it described as “the large numbers of unaffiliated protesters that the CWU had apparently invited along”.

It also wanted to reassure the public that the union had no role in how calls were being managed and pointed out that no emergency service had closed.

Mr Fitzpatrick said the companies that had introduced a toilet break policy seemed incapable of comprehending demands for basic respect, a living wage and trade union representation in the workplace.