New Zealand Collection Agency Workers on Strike

A labor union in New Zealand issued a statement today claiming that debt collectors at Baycorp would begin a strike at 3 pm local time on Friday.

Unite Union of Auckland, New Zealand said that it’s the fourth such strike against Baycorp New Zealand in the past month. At issue is the proposed pay increase Baycorp offered to the workers in collective bargaining. Unite claims that “most of the staff” of Baycorp’s New Zealand office are members of the union.

According to Unite, the last time Baycorp workers took strike action the company phones responded to calls with a claim that electrical interference from Wellington was preventing calls from being answered.

“This was a shabby piece of misrepresentation,” Unite National Director Mike Treen said in a statement. “The company is trying to hide their poor pay to staff behind a screen of public relations misinformation.”

Unite said that the company has increased its pay offer to a range of 1% to 3.5% (from 1% to 3.0% previously) while the union is demanding a 4% movement for all staff.

Calls to both Baycorp and Unite were unreturned on Friday due to time zone restrictions.

A previous release by the union covering a strike on August 9 claimed that Baycorp was the largest collection agency in New Zealand. It was not immediately clear how many workers were affected by the walkout on Friday, however. Baycorp also has a large presence in Australia and in debt purchasing through its Portfolio Management Group division.