Call center workers for some of the world's largest technology companies, including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Netflix, are accusing their employer of retaliating against union organizers, constant surveillance of employees and even denying them bathroom breaks.
The British Guardian writes that if you call the technical or customer support of a major technology company in the US or Europe, it is very likely that you will speak to an employee at one of Teleperformance's call centers in Greece. The country employs over 12.000 workers in multilingual centers in Athens, Chania and Thessaloniki.
Workers are demanding a collective bargaining agreement, but the company, they say, is responding to union leaders' dismissals. Employees' salaries have not changed since 2010, despite rising inflation and the cost of living, the British newspaper reports.
Nikos Spirelis, a call center worker and president of the Setep union, explained that the formation of the union began back in 2024 due to the lack of raises and increasing pressure on workers.
“If you are sick or absent for any reason, it is recorded as non-productivity and may affect contract renewal.”
“They have dozens of productivity indicators that they use to rate you, and depending on the project, you have to answer a certain number of calls. If you want to go to the bathroom, in many cases they don’t let you do that,” Spirelis said. “If you’re sick or absent for any reason, that’s recorded as unproductive and can affect contract renewal.”
He explained that the workers are employed on short-term contracts and are under constant surveillance, recording them and sending them messages to increase productivity, as the company receives bonuses from clients depending on the number of calls they process.
About half of the workers come from other countries, and they face additional problems, such as deductions from their salaries for housing and utilities. “It’s a social problem they created,” said Giorgos Krasadakis, a Teleperformance worker in Chania and president of the local branch of the Setep union.
“The normal salary is around 1.329 euros per month, but with housing costs it comes to around 1.029 euros, and on top of that they charge them for electricity four times more than a local company would charge.” “They use that as a pressure tool, because if they fire someone or don’t renew their contract, they can tell them: ‘OK, you’re homeless from tomorrow,’” Krasadakis explained.
He also stated that the workers are not allowed to receive visitors in their apartments and are under the supervision of security. “Security passes by the apartments two to three times a day to check if they have visitors,” Krasadakis added.
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