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"Telecoms for the Long Run": UNI Program Aims to Restore Industry Health
Telecommunications unions from around the globe emerged from the first Union Network International World Conference in Zagreb, Croatia, with a three-point program to restore the industry to long-term health: "Telecoms for the Long Run."
"We have to stop playing defense. We want to be on the attack," said CWA Executive Vice President and UNI Telecom President Larry Cohen, encouraging 300 delegates to the conference, June 26 and 27, to seek new strategies and new areas in which to organize.
The delegates, representing 3 million members of 75 unions in 48 countries, responded by adopting the three-part program to press for:
He said part of the reason for the "melt down" in the industry, with companies billions of dollars in the red and tens of thousands of jobs lost, has been that regulators have focused on competition rather than investment for the long term.
The conference focused on building global support for "Telecoms for the Long Run" and creating new global alliances between unions at telecom firms.
Toward that end customer service employees in UNI member unions will participate in a Global Action Week, Oct. 6-10, building worldwide solidarity by wearing the logo displayed above, calling attention to the critical role that workers play in today's information-based service economy and highlighting the often-deplorable conditions under which they work.
Customer service employees face similar workplace issues regardless of where they are located in the world: outsourcing threats, stress monitoring, sales quotas, scheduling, health and safety, and time to catch up on data entry. They will encourage employers to adopt a "professional, high-road model" of customer service work focused on problem solving rather than reading from a script.
CWA is also pushing for quality services and quality jobs by lobbying state legislators, beginning in New Jersey and North Carolina, for laws to ensure that call center staff identify who they work for - and where - with fines imposed for failing to do so, Cohen said.
Ralph Maly, CWA vice president for Communications and Technologies, pointed out to the conference that AT&T has shifted hundreds of call center jobs to India. He cited statistics showing that customer satisfaction is 40 percent better in the company's own call centers, with turnover as low as 6 percent annually, while outsourced centers have turnover as high as 200 percent.
The United Kingdom's Communications Workers Union is also campaigning against outsourcing of 2,500 jobs to India. They took their fight to British Telecom's annual shareholders meeting July 12.
District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach told the delegates about CWA's extensive program of promoting responsible corporate governance by offering or supporting shareholder resolutions and mobilizing members to leaflet at annual meetings.
"We have to stop playing defense. We want to be on the attack," said CWA Executive Vice President and UNI Telecom President Larry Cohen, encouraging 300 delegates to the conference, June 26 and 27, to seek new strategies and new areas in which to organize.
The delegates, representing 3 million members of 75 unions in 48 countries, responded by adopting the three-part program to press for:
- Universal services, including broadband Internet access in urban and rural areas;
- The creation of quality services and quality jobs.
- Full transparency among telecom companies to avoid the corruption and scandals of recent years.
He said part of the reason for the "melt down" in the industry, with companies billions of dollars in the red and tens of thousands of jobs lost, has been that regulators have focused on competition rather than investment for the long term.
The conference focused on building global support for "Telecoms for the Long Run" and creating new global alliances between unions at telecom firms.
Toward that end customer service employees in UNI member unions will participate in a Global Action Week, Oct. 6-10, building worldwide solidarity by wearing the logo displayed above, calling attention to the critical role that workers play in today's information-based service economy and highlighting the often-deplorable conditions under which they work.
Customer service employees face similar workplace issues regardless of where they are located in the world: outsourcing threats, stress monitoring, sales quotas, scheduling, health and safety, and time to catch up on data entry. They will encourage employers to adopt a "professional, high-road model" of customer service work focused on problem solving rather than reading from a script.
CWA is also pushing for quality services and quality jobs by lobbying state legislators, beginning in New Jersey and North Carolina, for laws to ensure that call center staff identify who they work for - and where - with fines imposed for failing to do so, Cohen said.
Ralph Maly, CWA vice president for Communications and Technologies, pointed out to the conference that AT&T has shifted hundreds of call center jobs to India. He cited statistics showing that customer satisfaction is 40 percent better in the company's own call centers, with turnover as low as 6 percent annually, while outsourced centers have turnover as high as 200 percent.
The United Kingdom's Communications Workers Union is also campaigning against outsourcing of 2,500 jobs to India. They took their fight to British Telecom's annual shareholders meeting July 12.
District 4 Vice President Jeff Rechenbach told the delegates about CWA's extensive program of promoting responsible corporate governance by offering or supporting shareholder resolutions and mobilizing members to leaflet at annual meetings.