WORKERS at a Derry call centre at the centre of harassment allegations are being urged to take legal advice.
The advice comes as workers are due to get together today at a union-organised meeting in the Unison offices in Clarendon Street.
Derry Daily has been inundated with complaints in the past 24 hours about the call centre.
One local woman said she was left a ‘nervous wreck’ after four years at the call centre and has only recently stopped taking medication.
SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey says he will meet the company to raise the concerns of many constituents who contacted him.
Union officials will listen to concerns today and check workers’ contracts; but some workers we have spoken to say they have already sought legal advice, particularly in relation to the ‘ban’ on organised union membership.
The comments generated by staff past and present on social media and in emails to Derry Daily have been astonishing.
“You don’t know what it’s like having to walk through those doors every day. My stomach turns,” said one employee.
A former employee said: “The greatest feeling I’ve had in my life was the day I walked out of that place knowing I’d never have to return. The turnover of staff tells its own story.”
One worker said he quit when he was told he would be fired if he didn’t go to work while his dad lay dying.
Similar allegations were made by workers who suffered from medical conditions.
Other complaints centred around leave and non-payment or late payment for working extra hours.
One Derry mother said her son was so stressed he ended up in hospital with severe headaches and when she rang the company to tell them, they didn’t believe her.
However some people – a small minority – insisted, among other things, that ‘a job is a job’.
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