Canada, Call Center, Union, Outsourcing
Canadian call center workers vote to join union
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Some 1,400 workers at the NCO call center in Surrey, British Columbia have voted to join the BC Government and Service Employees' Union. BCGEU president George Heyman says that the next challenge will be to negotiate a first collective agreement for the NCO workers.
The move is unprecedented for the global outsourcing industry, which has not witnessed formation of any significant organized employee union until now.
Commenting on this development, Michael J. Barrist, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are very disappointed that our Surrey associates have voted for union representation. Against a backdrop of increasing pricing pressure from our clients, a strengthening Canadian dollar and a client-driven trend towards moving North American call center business off-shore, the BCGEU convinced approximately 51 percent of the employees who voted that the union could improve their pay, benefits and working conditions.
"We have informed the clients who are serviced by the Surrey facility, and once they have the opportunity to integrate this information into their long-range planning as to where they want NCO to perform their work, we will be in a better position to inform our investors of the impact of this development."
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