Call Centres

ASU joins Global Call Centre Action Month campaign

During October 2009 global union organisation UNI Global Union is coordinating an action month for customer service/call centre workers.

The ASU is affiliated to UNI Global Union and so in October will be participating in the global campaign.

The focus of the month is in two parts; firstly looking at a day in the life of call centre workers around the world, and then secondly putting the spotlight on Telefonica, a company which has many thousands of call centre workers.

Despite signing a global agreement with UNI, Telefonica continues to deny many of its workers their fundamental rights to organise in a trade union and bargain.

Who is Telefonica?

Telefonica is one of the world's largest telecommunications companies which focuses on markets in Spain, Europe and Latin America (a total of 25 countries) and it employs around 257,000 employees.

A number of unions and their members have had protracted disputes with the company and UNI has decided to make it the focus of this important Call Centre Action Month.

Our part in the Telefonica campaign

As part of the Telefonica campaign ASU members in call centres will be asked to sign a postcard addressed to the Telefonica CEO asking him to guarantee freedom to organise and bargain to the company's employees. The postcard will be distributed and then collected and sent back to UNI for mass delivery to the company's CEO in Spain.

If you would like some postcards for your workplace contact the ASU at callcentreunion@asu.asn.au.

You can also sign a petition to Telefonica online here.

More details soon

More information on activities and campaigns during UNI Call Centre Action month will be available soon - keep checking the ASU website here.

Check out the UNI's latest research report - A World on the Phone which features ASU members here.

Catch up on the latest news from call centres around the world here.

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