Teleperformance’s practices lead our colleagues in Chania to become homeless
Once again our colleagues here in Chania are facing homelessness as a direct result of Teleperformance’s practices.
As we all know, Teleperformance makes constant efforts to attract workers to Chania from abroad by advertising free accommodation and modern apartments. What colleagues see when they arrive here is that they are usually provided with a room in an old hotel unit without insulation or central heating and in a location outside the city, in places that are deserted in the winter (e.g. Agia Marina, Stalos, Platanias).
In reality, the accommodation of colleagues is not at all free as they receive a salary reduced by 300 euros in order to stay in a hotel room, with electricity being deducted from the remaining salary at 0.45 €/kWh, but without individual electricity bills. In our previous repirts we have highlighted cases where these practices lead to colleagues receiving a significantly reduced salary or no salary at all.
Despite the above, the company does not recognise any housing rights for colleagues. It calls on workers to leave on the same day if they are dismissed or their contract is not renewed. Under these circumstances, it becomes much more difficult to bargain for one’s rights as it is 100% up to the company if they are left without a job and even without a home from one day to the next. This is exactly what is happening to two of our colleagues now whom the company is threatening to throw out on the street after announcing their dismissal.
One case involves a colleague who is an elected representative in the workers’ union. But she and all the members of the board of the Teleperformance workers’ union branch in Chania were told that contracts would not be renewed. Our union has denounced this practice and considers that the company is clearly engaging in persecution based on union activity with the goal of intimidating workers. The colleague is 60 years old and has worked for the company for about 2 years with no previous problems. After she learned that her contract would not be renewed she made it known to the company management that being forced to leave the apartment without a job would mean that she would be homeless.
Nevertheless, the company is still pressuring her to leave her apartment while she struggles to find work elsewhere, having even applied to work in all of Teleperformance’s other departments with open positions, of which there are hundreds, according to the company’s website. The fact that Teleperformance is asking her to leave the provided apartment while her applications are still pending in other departments of the company is indicative that they are blacklisting those of us who dare to are pioneers in fighting for our rights.
The second case involves a colleague over 50 years old who had been working for the company for 2 years without any previous problems and he had even been promoted. Recently he reports that he made a complaint about misbehaviour by managers in his department. This leads our colleague to believe that he is being the recipient of a terribly revengeful treatment by company management. From receiving praise in his department for his good performance, he suddenly finds himself without a job and now the company is telling him that he should have already left the apartment provided to him.
Our union demands that in the above cases the company should show the bare minimum humanity and do the obvious. No colleague should be thrown out on the streets! Given the severity of the situation, with Teleperformance not having given pay rises for 14 years, it is unacceptable for the company to expect colleagues to incur moving expenses on the same day while facing the issue of being dismissed.
We continue to support the demand to end the predatory practice of charging €0.45/kWh for electricity in colleagues’ flats and also to end the company’s inhumane practice of throwing workers out on the streets once management decides it doesn’t need them.