999 workers to strike on the day before Dáil general election

STAFF at the 999 emergency call answering service in Navan, County Meath, will be staging a 12-hour strike on the day before the Dáil general election.

The 999 Branch of the Communication Workers' Union have decided that the work stoppage will begin at 8am on Thursday 25 February and will end at 8pm.

To protect the service, members have decided to stage a work stoppage only in the Navan 999 centre.

The other centres at Ballyshannon in County Donegal and Clontarf, Dublin, will operate as normal.

The union has written to the employer, BT Ireland/Conduit Global, to formally put them on notice of the possibility of industrial action. The CWU has indicated that it remains to open to dialogue with a view to resolving the issues at the centre of this dispute.

CWU members in the 999 service have been campaigning for dignity and respect in the workplace for the past 18 months. They are calling on their employer, Conduit Global, to address the following issues:

• A Living Wage of €11.50 per hour

• An immediate end to unnecessary and punitive suspensions, and the negotiation of a fair Corrective Action Policy

• A fair On-call Policy, and

• Collective bargaining

Steve Fitzpatrick, General Secretary of the CWU, said:

“Our members working in the 999 call service have taken this decision reluctantly but in the knowledge that they have exhausted every other avenue available to them. In doing so, they have ensured that the vital public service they deliver will not be impacted by their strike action.

“They have raised their grievances using the company’s internal procedures, which were ignored.

“We have invited the company to the Workplace Relations Commission, which they refused to attend.

“And the CWU has written to Conduit/BT seven times offering to meet and each time they refused. In the absence of any meaningful engagement, members feel compelled to proceed with this action.

“Needless to say, the CWU remains open to dialogue and hopes that Conduit Global will take the same pride in this service as their staff do and enter discussions on the issues raised.

“No one can expect these workers to tolerate company bosses continuously ignoring the legitimate concerns they have raised. Unfortunately, strike action is the only option left open to these workers.”

Speaking to the Irish Mirror, he said:

“The 999 workers are delivering a vital public emergency service and they play an essential role in the first responder services to protect life.

“It is unacceptable that they are paid low wages and are forced to endure a petty and vindictive management regime that flouts common decency and the respect that workers are entitled to in the workplace,” Steve told the Irish Mirror.

PEADAR TÓIBÍN (pictured), the Sinn Féin TD for Meath West, including Navan, and the party's spokesperson on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, said he is deeply concerned by complaints from workers.

“I have been told by workers here that they are working in a harsh and punitive environment. One Emergency Call Answering Service worker alleged she has been suspended from work for a total of three months without seeing even the details of the allegations against her and has no idea when she might get a hearing with which she can defend herself.

“This is an affront to workers’ rights. The Communications Workers' Union, of which she is a member, is taking this matter extremely seriously and has lodged a complaint to the WRC.”

He said that even though the Emergency Call Answering Service is one of the fastest in Europe, workers are not only paid below the Living Wage of €11.50 per hour, they have been refused collective trade union representation.

“What is particularly alarming is that the ECAS contract is a state contract,” the Meath West TD said.

“The Government has responsibility to uphold the safety and dignity of these workers. Last year I asked Labour Party Communications Minister Alex White whether workers who were suffering these ongoing difficulties would be treated with respect and dignity. Alex White flatly responded that this was not his responsibility.

“Alex White should not disregard what is clearly his responsibility as Communications Minister and intervene immediately and ensure that all workers have their rights protected.”