Nationwide Protests Call Out Risks to Deaf and Limited-English Populations Due to Service Quality at Teleperformance Subsidiaries LanguageLine Solutions and ZP Better Together

ASL and LanguageLine interpreters face unstable hours, insufficient training, and overwhelming workloads due to cost-cutting practices, degrading service quality, and worker well-being.

NATIONWIDE — The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) called for accountability from global provider of interpretation services, Teleperformance, over negative impacts on service quality in a nationwide day of action on Thursday. Union members and Teleperformance employees across the country conducted outreach outside the company’s major American clients, including hospitals and government offices, and outside of company call centers to raise awareness of how the company’s cost-cutting practices are impacting service quality and workers’ rights as workers face unstable hours, insufficient training, and overwhelming workloads.

Workers are organizing unions with CWA and the ASL Interpreters Union-OPEIU (ASLIU). Interpreters at Teleperformance subsidiary LanguageLine Solutions (LLS) ensure language access at hospitals, courtrooms, banks, and schools, while ASL interpreters employed through Teleperformance subsidiary ZP Better Together provide American Sign Language video relay services and community-based interpretation.

Interpreting is emotionally and intellectually involved work, and inaccuracies can carry severe medical, legal, and financial consequences for others. In a survey conducted by CWA of LanguageLine interpreters, a majority (57 percent) disagreed that they receive adequate training for the job, and a large majority of respondents (83 percent) felt that their ability to interpret well is impacted negatively by LLS policies that push interpreters to take calls back-to-back. A LanguageLine interpreter explained, “There's no break between the calls. After telling [a Limited English Proficient client] their child passed away or that they have been diagnosed with a terminal disease and witnessing the [client] crying uncontrollably, LLS should provide us a few minutes to recover.”

Earlier this spring, concerns over service quality led 23 members of Congress to call on the Federal Communications Commission to closely scrutinize Teleperformance/ZP Better Together’s application for certification to provide Video Relay Service, an essential program that ensures Deaf, Deaf-Blind, and Hard-of-Hearing people have equal access to telecommunications services.

“Communities rely on Teleperformance to provide high-quality service in sensitive medical, legal, and financial settings,” said Erin Mahoney, CWA Assistant Director of Organizing. “If frontline workers had a seat at the table, Teleperformance could gain valuable insight into how to improve working conditions and client services.”

In 2022, Teleperformance and UNI Global Union signed a global agreement ensuring the right of workers to organize free from interference, but Teleperformance has yet to implement the agreement in the United States. The agreement covers nearly 500,000 Teleperformance employees globally.

Teleperformance was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Paris, France. The company offers services in data security, telemarketing, customer service, interpreting, analytics, technical assistance, debt collection, and other types of business process outsourcing. Teleperformance contracts to many industries, including banking, financial services, energy, utilities, and automotive. Teleperformance is the largest call center operator in the world and sets the standards for the call center industry.

Follow LLS United on Instagram for campaign updates: www.instagram.com/llsunited.

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications, customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion