hotline gmbh/berlin

text in german
From the hotlines-leaflet no. 4 on workers' struggles (July 2001):

At Hotline GmbH about 150 workers, mostly students working part time, handle calls for external customers (Berlikomm, Ares-Strom). End of last year 40 people were sacked "due to the reduction of a large-scale contract". Some workers started discussing what they could do to prevent this happening again. They started the set up of a works council ("Betriebsrat") and asked the union, IG Medien, for advice. The management heard about this and organised its own works meeting as a counter-move. Then, in February, it sacked more than 20 workers with flimsy justifications. The workers got the support of the initiative Callcenteroffensive and organised a demonstration with about 50 people outside the call center. Afterwards there were some court cases (for re-employment) and compensations between 500 and 4000 DM were paid (those who had caused most trouble got the most!). The conditions worsened and the work rythm was increased further after this confrontation. Furthermore, there was a "hunt" for the friends of the sacked who still worked for Hotline. Some workers sympathised with an anti-fascist initiative, and the management tried to sack all of them. Missed chance?! Some workers knew each other from outside the work-place anyway and maybe it would have been possible to occupy the place in a joint action, interrupt the "productive process" and put pressure on the management.

(More at www.callcenteroffensive.de)