999 call staff go on work to rule

Emergency call operators will commence a month-long work to rule from today. 

The industrial action at the Emergency Call Answering Service (ECAS) at Navan, Co Meath, is over pay and union recognition.

The Communications Workers Union said Conduit Global, who run the service, could have avoided the 12-hour stoppage that ended at 8pm last night — the company had turned down an invitation by the Workplace Relations Commission to attend talks aimed at averting the strike action.

The CWU wants staff to be given a ‘living wage’ of €11.50 — an increase of 50c an hour for some — and the right to  be represented by their union in negotiations.

The union held the first 12-hour stoppage in the dispute on February 25 when some operators joined the picket line at the Navan centre.

The union said yesterday’s action in Navan would be followed by a month of industrial action to May 6 by some operators in three 999 centres at Dublin, Navan and Ballyshannon (Co Donegal).

There are 20 staff members in each of the three centres.

Staff at the centres are expected to withdraw from extra duties outside of their employment contracts. Conduit Global said the work to rule was not expected to have any impact on services.

The State contract for the Emergency Call Answering Service was awarded to BT Ireland, who outsourced it to Conduit Global.

BT Ireland said calls from the public to the centres yesterday were handled as normal and that contingency plans were in place to handle any scenario where a CWU member did not perform their lead operators’ duties over the coming month.

“Disappointingly, the union’s actions within Conduit Global are irresponsible, unnecessary and unjustified,” it stated. “Creating disharmony within a contact centre that handles emergency calls is not helpful when the majority of operators are indicating that they don’t want to be associated with industrial action.”

Conduit Global said all staff in Ireland employed on an ECAS contract had been paid more than the Living Wage since the start of the year.

It pointed out that operators could earn more through the on-call process, which was €25 extra for a day shift and €35 extra for a weekend shift, payable whether the operator had to work or not.

It said the on-call policy was being changed to once a month, from once a week, to “significantly improve” the work-life balance of staff. “We believe the employees are their own best representatives and will continue to liaise directly with them,” it stated.