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Topic: Organizing an outsourced call center
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triciamarie
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 12970
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posted 18 October 2008 06:39 PM
There's a story in "Our Times" labour magazine from February this year about a call centre that successfully organized in BC. They worked on contracts too. quote: This was a third-party call centre, where they contract work from major corporations which they call "projects." Individual employees work pretty much exclusively on a particular project. As organizers we tried to focus in on small inside committees from each project. There were some very dedicated inside committee members who saw the benefit of bringing a union in.This was a very anti-union employer. The market for this kind of work is strictly driven by outside contracts, so the rate of pay is governed by the market and, when you're competing with workers in Indonesia and India and other parts of the world where wages are significantly lower, that's what's continually thrown at the workers. They say, "We can flip a switch and all your calls will go to Indonesia where we only pay a dollar an hour or a day." So there's that constant threat.
http://www.ourtimes.ca/Talking/printer_68.php The biggest problem with organizing a lot of these kinds of places is the high turnover; the call centre in this story was looking at 90% turnover a year. Frankly that's why it can be hard to spark much of an interest from the big unions.
From: gwelf | Registered: Jul 2006
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triciamarie
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 12970
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posted 19 October 2008 06:14 PM
In the interim it may also be worth your while checking out the Workers Action Centre, a community resource for non-unionized, low-paid workers. They have a telephone inquiry line to answer employment-related questions. They might have some suggestions for you and your coworkers about getting paid what you're owed.http://www.workersactioncentre.org/who.htm There are also some bulletins on the website you could distribute or post anonymously. Careful though, because outside of a formal organizing drive, you're not protected from recrimination by the employer. The employer will have you in their sights if they clue into what you're doing.
From: gwelf | Registered: Jul 2006
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enemy_of_capital
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 15547
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posted 19 October 2008 09:33 PM
quote: There's a story in "Our Times" labour magazine from February this year about a call centre that successfully organized in BC. They worked on contracts too. quote:This was a third-party call centre, where they contract work from major corporations which they call "projects." Individual employees work pretty much exclusively on a particular project. As organizers we tried to focus in on small inside committees from each project. There were some very dedicated inside committee members who saw the benefit of bringing a union in. This was a very anti-union employer. The market for this kind of work is strictly driven by outside contracts, so the rate of pay is governed by the market and, when you're competing with workers in Indonesia and India and other parts of the world where wages are significantly lower, that's what's continually thrown at the workers. They say, "We can flip a switch and all your calls will go to Indonesia where we only pay a dollar an hour or a day." So there's that constant threat. http://www.ourtimes.ca/Talking/printer_68.php The biggest problem with organizing a lot of these kinds of places is the high turnover; the call centre in this story was looking at 90% turnover a year. Frankly that's why it can be hard to spark much of an interest from the big unions.
This is dead on I'm afraid. I am organizing a guerilla town hall when a large number of us are not working and trying to organize the whole thing off premises I think. but is this legal?
From: Mississauga | Registered: Sep 2008
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arthur seaton
recent-rabble-rouser
Babbler # 15687
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posted 29 October 2008 12:22 PM
Call Centres have been organised, some outsourced centres others in house. I wouldn't expect much from e-mailing various unions. One thing you can do is call up the CLC organising dept. or the local labour council and ask them to put you in touch with unions that have organised call centres in the past or have that area of work undere their "jurisdiction".You will be taken more seriously if you have formed quietly a committee of co-workers who want to take the lead on this. The idea of doing a town hall outside of work is a good one, but I wouldn't spread the word far and wide. Instead I would invite somethe co-workers you trust and have had a chance to suss out on the idea of a union. From there you can begin to identify the issues people want resovled and how forming a union can deal with some of those problems. Secondly you might want to find a way of getting a list of employees and if possible their phone numbers and address - sometimes there is one laying around. In other instances workers have done a raffle for something and sold tickets for 1 or 2 dollars and gotten names and addresses that way. i would do this before launching anything as management tend to get very suspicious once they know that people are trying to organise. i would also try to have your committee talk to a few unions, and make sure that they are going to back you up on your work to organise. make sure you ask what strategies they employ, how do they test people for support. Many unions just get you to sign cards and then file, this has an incredibly low success rate in the service sector. Also ask how they will help you deal with what is called third partying the union. Most employers will fight the attempt to get a union by making it appear that the union is completely and outside entity, and many unions fall into that with their literature and how they talk about the union. Good luck.
From: toronto | Registered: Oct 2008
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