Strikes at Esso refinery Around 200 construction workers at Esso's Longford gas refinery took indefinite strike action on March 23 over the forced transfer of an employee. The company has taken the dispute to the Industrial Relations Commission and the Supreme Court in an attempt to force an end to three-week strike action. Call centre workers walk out More than 100 phone operators at the TAB Sydney call centre walked off the job on March 24, the first day of the NSW Autumn racing carnival. The industrial action disrupted phone-betting services for the estimated 170,000 people that have accounts with the gaming company. Workers said they struck over job security and a planned relocation of the call centre from Ultimo, near the city centre, to Western Sydney.
TAB wants to cut jobs through the introduction of voice recognition technology.
For the last two weeks call centre management has ignored workers' demands for negotiations over the changes.