The recent Four Corners programme aired on the ABC has once again
highlighted the dire situation of employees in some call centres.
Telstra employs 10,000 call centre staff in customer service centres.The
programme looked at the situation of employees at one of Telstra’s call
centres and gave the employees a chance to tell their story. It also told the
tragic story of the suicide of one young woman working in one of the centres.
The workers spoke of being trapped in the financial bind of having to work
in centres such as Telstra's and feel they are paying a hefty price for not
meeting the benchmarks set by a corporate management structure. This structure
is only interested in the bottom line and how to get the result as cheaply and
as fast as possible. Penalties for not meeting KPI’s include loss of wages, up
to 30% if targets are not met!
As a former consultant in a Telstra contact centre said “it was like,
do you have a choice, and the choices were get on with it, get over it or get
out”.
The employees described how every keyboard stroke and computer screen is
monitored and every worker is presented with a print out of the work done and,
where they have failed to achieve the targets set, they are “re-trained”. The
workers also described how their breaks are monitored to the second and calls
can be listened to without the workers knowledge.
All the Telstra call centres are offered AWA’s, and according to staff if
they choose not to sign, then they don’t get the job.
It takes an expose such as Four Corners to highlight this experience. This
is just one insight into a workplace where AWA’s have been used, but is
certainly evidence of the negative impact the the Howard Government's extreme
laws have had on Australian workers.
Unlike the Howard Government, Labor is committed to restoring balance in
the workplace.
For a full transcript of the show see:
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2007/s1954636.htm
According to media reports, the majority of Australian Workplace Agreements
retrospectively assessed by the Workplace Authority have failed the Howard
Government’s ‘fairness’ test.
The changes have failed to fix the problems with Government’s unfair
workplace laws and have placed further regulatory burdens on employers.
The Howard Government’s changes have simply been an extravagant excuse to
spend more taxpayer’s money advertising these unfair laws in an election year,
bringing the total amount to $75 million!
Of course the fact remains that if there was fairness in the system there
would be no need to implement a ‘fairness test’.
To
read a doorstop interview with Julia Gillard on this issue go to:
http://www.alp.org.au/media/0507/dsidlop210.php
