leaflet on working hours
text in german    testo in italiano
Here are the introduction and the main article of the first leaflet (October 2000).
You can find the reports on specific call centers under:Hier Einleitung und Artikel aus dem ersten Flugblatt (Oktober 2000).
Dazu die Beiträge zu einzelnen Call Centern:
citibank/duisburg
quelle/essen
medion/muelheim
deutsche bank 24/duisburg
client logic(ex-dts)/duisburg
In Ruhrgebiet, Glasgow, Paris, Milano or Berlin... call centers have
been opened up for years in many cities and regions. Already hundreds
of thousands work in call centers in the banking and insurance
industry, in technical support-hotlines, in sales and marketing, in
order services...
As workers in call centers we call up people (outbound) or answer their calls (inbound) using integrated telephone- and computer technology. Many of us work in shifts. The work is
divided in short, precisely defined work steps. And we are controlled
by teamleaders.
Many of us work in call centers, because in some regions it is the
only chance to get a job easily. Sometimes these jobs are better paid
than those in factories, in cleaning or shops. But while bosses and
politicians present us call centers in their PR-brochures as a "modern
form of work", in fact, they have made us the proletariat of their
"service and information society"!
Call Centers were and are an attack on the refusal of many office
workers to accept a deterioration of their conditions (in banks,
insurances, the post office, telecom and other offices). For many
workers call centers stand for longer working hours, forced shift
work, constant control and intensification of work. Working in call
centers means sometimes stress, sometimes boredom, the obligation to
be friendly and customer fobbing, not enough money and too many hours
on the job.
Nevertheless, it depends on us, the workers, under which conditions we
will work in the next few years. Our behaviour and our struggles
determine, whether the bosses can speed up the work rhythm and force
us to work overtime - or whether we can win the initiative and show
them the way!
Some conditions are in our favour: the newspapers are full of job
offers and the bosses start compaigns and make announcements in
football stadiums, because they cannot find enough people who want to
do their work or who stay "call center agents" for long enough. In
such times we can push things through because they cannot afford to
just sack people. And even if: We can quickly find another job.
Furthermore, often we work under similar or equal conditions together
with hundreds of workers in one department. Many workers have also
worked in other call centers and bring along experiences and contacts.
So we are not isolated at the work place, but can organize with others
against the lousy working conditions.
We do not have to put up with anything!
For collective actions against overtime and work stress!
Good times, bad times...
Against the flexible extension of working hours in call centers
End of shift. The phones do not stop ringing... and you can already
see how the teamleader is coming over: "Can you stay another hour?!"
Shit! You had planned to go out for the cinema with your friend but
that won't happen as usual. And on Saturday you won't have time either
because of the compulsory extra shift. Have heard this before?
The interest of the call center-bosses is clear: they want to make big
money with in- and outbound-calls. Therefore, on one hand they try to
make us work longer: more hours a day, more days a week and as
flexible as possible and "on call". On the other hand they want us to
take as many calls an hour as possible and to avoid everything that
could lower productivity.
In this leaflet we write against the bosses' attempts to extend our
working day.
Time is money for some...
The phone wires and our ears heat up, but despite the fact that in a
short time span we phone in the equivalent of our wage for our boss we
cannot go home afterwards. The working day lasts longer, but the rest
of the time we work for the balancesheet of the company. The bosses
want to extend this unpaid labour by forcing workers to work more
hours, that is more than 40 hours a week, or if doing part-time, more
than the previously agreed working hours.
In many cases the previous working hours in branches and offices were
extended with the introduction of call centers (for instance in the
banking sector). Often this happened with the outsourcing of parts of
companies and the usage of temporary agencies. Furthermore, we see
constant overtime and extra shifts, for instance in technical hotlines
(Medion/Duisburg...) and order services (Client Logic/Duisburg...),
during marketing campaigns or seasonal business. And in many call
centers workers have to work longer hours because the training times
do not get paid, or like at Quelle /Essen, where workers are asked to
come earlier so they can read their new instructions (on the
intranet)! Some call centers even send workers home without payment
when computers break down or there are only few calls (Client
Logic/Duisburg). In case, the workers depend on the lost wage they
have to make up for the missed hours another day!
The bosses also extend the total working hours: the governments of
many german regions (Bundeslaender) were keen to allow work on
Sundays, which has been introduced in many call centers. The same with
work on public holidays. Sunday- and public holiday-work take place
for instance in direct-banks (Citibank and Deutsche Bank 24/both in
Duisburg...). Night work anyway.
Many call center bosses do not pay any supplements for work on Sundays
or overtime. Workers still do overtime although past experiences show
that overtime hours and supplements for work on Sundays result in
higher wages only for a short period. When we have agreed to work
longer hours on a regular basis, the wages quickly drop to a level
just high enough for living and going to work.
This attack, the attempt to extend the working hours, does not only
happen in call centers, but also in other offices, in shops and
factories. Call centers are part of this society in which profit - and
not the needs of the workers - decide over work, working methods and
products. Therefore, the usage of more productive technologies (like
automation- and information-technologies) does not lead to more
convenient or less work. On the contrary: some workers in factories
and offices must do extra shifts and overtime. Thanks to flexible
working hours, others are - between times of unemployment - even able
to survive on three part-time jobs.
... and stress between working rhythm and working schedule for us!
But why do the bosses try to extend the working day and the total
working hours? Why do they try to tie us up to the telephones 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week? They go on about "customer service". But
important is: As long as the machines, that is computers, telephone
systems etc., are used night and day, they do get back they
investments quicker and can make profits! And why overtime and extra
shifts? We all know this: in inbound you sometimes have many calls,
sometimes few. In outbound the amount of calls varies less, but
instead there are sometimes many contractor's orders, sometimes not.
The management tries to even out the fluctuation of calls and orders
by trying to let the agents work overtime and extra shifts in the
times of a high call volume, and in less busy times they want them to
stay home or just work the regular shifts.
So this stands behind it: We shall work flexible and always turn up
for work when the bosses blow the whistle so they do not have to hire
more people. That would cost money and lower their profits!
The conflict about the length of the working day is a crucial struggle
between workers and bosses. There were, for instance, struggles on the
8-hour-day and the 40-hour-week.
But it was the immediate pressure oft the workers - rather than the
public union campaigns (as the one on the 35 hour week in the 80s)
that lead to the reduction of working hours.
At the moment we are under pressure and find rather defensive answers
to the extension of working hours and their "flexibilisation": going
on sick pay against weekend shifts or the extended toilet break when
the job is stressful. And sometimes we take care of the phones of
others, so those can finally take a break and talk to other workers.
For sure, these unofficial ways of reducing working hours is okay. But
this is a weak base as long as we accept twice the amount of calls
when there are not enough people on the phone in our team.
If we want to have more time for the nice things in life in the long
run, and sacrifice less hours for work, we have to push that through
together! We do not need to wait till the last person in the team has
understood that we should not take the shit anymore. It is enough if
we start standing up with some other workers in our department!
No extra shifts!
Every hour overtime is 60 minutes too much work!
Stop shift work altogether!
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