By Scott McNamara
USU Manager Energy & Utilities
May 23, 2008
USU Energy Call Centre employees across NSW have led the charge and begun the first wave of industrial action. Call Centre employees are advising their customers via a script of the State Governments plan to sell off area’s of the NSW Energy industry and are encouraging the many thousands of customers that they speak with each day to contact their local MP and tell them to Stop the Sell Off.
Scott McNamara Energy and Utilities Manager of the USU said “The response to the script has been phenomenal, most of our call centre members have embraced the action and are enthusiastic that this is a unique, well targeted form of industrial action which only they are in a position to perform and it does not inconvenience the public.“
The responses the call centre staff are receiving are of support. “We were expecting that the Call Centre members would be met with encouragement from the public. The survey’s conducted at the end of last year, demonstrated that 85% of the public were not supportive of the NSW Governments position to privatise” said Scott McNamara.
Yesterday Energy Australia had been attempting bully tactics and pulled groups of 10 of the female dominated workforce into meeting rooms at a time and threatened each of them with disciplinary action if they continue.
Despite these threats, the call centre employees have stood collectively and resiliently with the rest of their colleagues throughout the state and continue to speak with their customers and encourage them to make contact with their MP’s.
Scott McNamara said “Call Centre employees should not be deterred by the antics of one organisation, this is their opportunity to stand up for themselves and their industry and all of the call centres across the state are doing a great job of getting the message out there.”
A combined Union campaign committee has been scheduled for Monday at Unions NSW. That meeting will discuss what state wide action will be taken if any individual is victimised or disciplined.
The Call Centre industrial action is expected to run for just over a week until Parliament resumes again at the beginning of June.
Contact: Scott McNamara
USU Manager Energy & Utilities
