Militancy calling! Organising in call centres today

Around the world, call centres are seen as modern day sweatshops. Extreme surveillance, timing of personal breaks down to the second, and relentless management pressures are commonplace. With a workforce that is often young and casualised, call centres are seen as a very tough environment in which to build union strength.

Despite these odds, workers in some call centres have managed to build impressive worker organisation.

Megan Guy, Liz Lim, and Yasemine Shamsili are delegates with the National Union of Workers in a Melbourne call centre. They’ll present an overview of the sector and it’s challenges around the world, as well as some of the impressive organising work they’ve been part of.

We’ll be joined via skype by call centre militants from the Partido Manggagawa, who have led a series of struggles in the booming call centre sector in the Philippines.

Reading:

Jamie Woodcock, Working the phones: control and resistance in call centres. (Review here, short speech here, longer speech here.)

Information about call centre struggles in the Philippines on Partido Manggagawa website

NUW delegate, Building a union culture at work, Red Flag, 10 April 2018

Call centres getting organised - Red Flag