Members of Unite Union at Baycorp have won a victory through concerted industrial action.

The long difficult dispute at the company’s inner city call centre in Auckland was finally settled last month when workers ratified their collective employment agreement.

“It’s not everything we wanted but I’m proud of the way the workers stuck together and refused to be bullied” said one member following ratification of the agreement.

The effect is that most union members will receive 3.5% backdated seven months and a further 3.5% increase from July 1st this year. Each union member also receives a 1% training allowance payment.

Negotiations to renew the collective agreement began in June last year. The company took an aggressive stance from the outset and attempted to claw back half the workers’ redundancy package as well as offering a minimal pay increase.

However the company did not count on the determined fight-back by Baycorp union members. The aggressive stance backfired. A unanimous vote to strike by over 100 members brought the company to a standstill. It was the first strike ever at New Zealand’s iconic debt-collection agency.

The company then withdrew its redundancy claim but it took a series of further strikes, which extended in duration from one-hour to half a day, before a reasonable agreement was reached.

“At one stage the company tried to divide union members by offering a higher pay increase to one section while missing out everyone else. It was a real pleasure to see the members feedback their unanimous rejection of the offer”, said Union Organiser John Minto. “It was the members sticking together which got them the pay rise they deserved.”