"Slowly Making a Comeback": Unite Union Fights to Organize Call Centre Workers in Auckland
Founded in New Zealand in 1998, Unite Union began organizing cinemas, hospitality, and fast food sectors in Auckland in the 2000s. The union’s breakthrough was the 2005 Supersize My Pay campaign, which unionized thousands of workers in Auckland’s fast-food industry by targeting employees at McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and KFC. Unite has a significant presence in call centres as well. In 2008, the union launched the “Calling for Change” campaign in cooperation with the Australian National Union of Workers, organizing consumer research call centres in Auckland that had been outsourced from Australia. The campaign utilized tactics such as brand tarnishing, picketing, wildcat, and even hunger strikes. In December of 2017, Enda Brophy sat down with Unite call centre organizer Shirley Wang at the Unite headquarters in Auckland to find out more about the union’s organizing in the call centre sector.
Image credit: Better Creative
