Bad attitude, Latitude: workers walk off the job

Workers at Latitude, the company that provides the GEM Visa credit card, will walk away from their call centre desks today (12/03/19) at 12pm over a pay offer that has not kept up with the times.

The strike will run from 12 to 2pm with a picket outside the contact centre at 8 Tangihua St, Auckland.

FIRST Union Retail Organiser Kate Davis says pay has not kept up with the cost of living.

“Their sales and customer support service roles require a unique set of skills that their employer simply doesn’t recognise. These workers are struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living in Auckland rises, and the wages for their hard work doesn’t reflect this. The GEM Visa (powered by Latitude) tagline, ‘You can do better’ is fairly applicable here.”

“Though they work for a finance company that’s charging up to 26% interest on their Gem Visa credit cards, the company’s measly offer of 3% means workers will probably have to consider eventually getting a GEM Visa card to subsidise their rent. In real terms, the company’s offer doesn’t even cover one day’s worth of parking for these workers.”

“We think the brand may want to reconsider investing millions of dollars in Alec Baldwin as a spokesperson, and consider distributing it to the hard-working front line workers of the company.”

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