{"id":1834,"date":"2019-03-01T18:36:50","date_gmt":"2019-03-01T18:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/?p=1834"},"modified":"2019-09-30T14:39:11","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T14:39:11","slug":"contact-centre-workers-launch-new-albanian-labour-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/2019\/03\/01\/contact-centre-workers-launch-new-albanian-labour-union\/","title":{"rendered":"Contact centre workers launch new Albanian labour union (UNI, 2019)"},"content":{"rendered":"

[pullquote]
\nThe union represents the 30,000-worker contact centre sector\u2014one of the fastest growing segments of the Albanian economy. <\/em><\/p>\n

The workers, who provide customer service for companies like Amazon, Apple, and Lottomatica<\/em> in the Italian market, were joined by Italian telecoms unions at the launch. <\/em><\/p>\n

This breakthrough in Albania is the latest sign of a trade union resurgence in Central Europe.<\/em>
\n[\/pullquote]<\/p>\n

Albanian contact centre workers \u2014 who provide customer service for some of the world\u2019s biggest companies \u2014 have created a new trade union.<\/p>\n

The union, called the National Union of Contact Centers – “Solidarity”, represents the 30,000-worker-and-growing Albanian contact centre sector, which primarily services Italian-language markets.<\/p>\n

Workers held a foundation assembly last night to launch the union and filed papers with the Albanian courts this morning to legally establish it. Contact centres are increasing their footprint in the Albanian economy, and it is estimated that 7 percent of formalized workforce is employed in the Italian-language contact centres.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the voice that customers hear when they need support, and now, with our union, we have a voice at our jobs,\u201d said Teleperformance worker leader. \u201cForming our new union is a historic step towards raising standards in our industry, and our employers should immediately begin negotiating a sector-wide collective agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing issues such as degrading working conditions, arbitrary account assignment, and unjust disciplinary practices, contact centre employees at French outsourcing giant Teleperformance helped launch the sector-wide organising campaign in 2018.<\/p>\n

Teleperformance is the largest contact centre employer globally, and in Albania, more than 2,000 of its employees provide outsourced customer service for companies such as Amazon, Apple, and Lottomatica. The company was previously fined by the Albanian labour ministry after workers notified authorities about incomplete social security payments.<\/p>\n

Other key employers in the sector include Alba Call and IDS.<\/p>\n

The workers\u2019 organising efforts were supported Albanian non-governmental organization the Institute for Critique and Social Emancipation<\/a> (ICSE) and UNI Global Union<\/a>, a federation of 20 million service workers in 150 countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the rapid growth of the contact centres in Albania, we have to make sure that these new jobs have good working conditions and pay a living wage. We cannot let global outsourcing companies like Teleperformance undermine standards for Albanian workers,\u201d said ICSE spokesperson Bora Mema. \u201cNow, we call on the employers to bargain a fair sector-wide agreement with workers\u2019 union.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe globalisation of services should not mean a global race to the bottom, and this new union in Albania will have a ripple effect throughout Europe and throughout the world,\u201d said UNI Global Union spokesperson Teresa Casertano.<\/p>\n

Leaders from Italian telecommunications unions SLC-CGIL and FISTEL-CISL stood with the Albanian counterparts at the launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can no longer only think about Italian contact centre workers and Italian working conditions because this is a global industry. Workers\u2019 problems in Albania and workers\u2019 problems in Italy are closely tied together, and a multinational approach is the only way we will solve these issues,\u201d said Marco Del Cimmuto and Giorgio Serao for Italian unions SLC-CGIL and FISTel-CISL.<\/p>\n

\n

Published by UNI Global Union<\/a> datelined Tirana, Albania, 18 February, 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

CONTACT<\/strong>
\nBenjamin Parton, Senior Organiser
\nMobile:\u00a0+41 79 681 77 38\/\u00a0 Tel:\u00a0+41\u00a022 365 2171
\nbenjamin.parton@uniglobalunion.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[pullquote] The union represents the 30,000-worker contact centre sector\u2014one of the fastest growing segments of the Albanian economy. The workers, who provide customer service for companies like Amazon, Apple, and Lottomatica in the Italian market, were joined by Italian telecoms unions at the launch. This breakthrough in Albania is the latest sign of a trade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1834"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1985,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1834\/revisions\/1985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}