Ringing the changes? Union recognition and organisation in call centres in the UK finance sector

Abstract

The massive rise in UK call centre employment in recent years has been closely related to developments in the finance sector. This paper analyses these developments in order to contextualise the organisational experiences of unions in the sector. Recruitment activity in both hostile and compliant employer environments, and findings from the first national survey of call centre employees' attitudes towards trade unionism, are discussed, and the prospects for union recruitment and organisation are assessed

“An umbrella full of holes?”

“…At GM-Vauxhall, a similar longitudinal approach over a period of fourteen years was supplemented with recent interviews of convenor and deputy convenor, four stewards and two full-time officers (Amicus and TGWU) on the impact of ICE during the jobs crisis of May-June 2006 (Danford et al, 2008;Stewart et al, 2008). For more than a decade, one team member has conducted research in the financial services sector, notably in relation to organizational restructuring and the re-configuration of interactive service work in the form of call centres and the outcomes for employment relations and participation (Bain and Taylor, 2002;Taylor and Bain, 2001). Latterly, studies have considered the manifold consequences for employment levels and union representation arising from the growth of offshoring (Bain and Taylor, 2008;Taylor and Bain, 2005;.…”

“…Driven by sector-wide intensified competition and pressures to maximize shareholder value, the Prudential and Aviva embarked on near-continuous programmes of restructuring, re-engineering and relocation aimed at slashing overheads and cutting costs. Central to these were technologically facilitated changes in the processes and loci of interactive servicing, notably the call centre's emergence as the dominant mode of customer contact (Bain and Taylor, 2002), and the digitalization of the back-office (Miozzo and Soete, 2001). …”

De-collectivism and managerial ideology: towards an understanding of trade union opposition

“…While contemporary accounts of managerial resistance to unions often cite the neo-liberalism of global economics (Bain and Taylor, 2002;Findlay, 1993) there is also a deeper historical and structural root to managerial ideology (Fox 1974 (Fox, 1974;Storey, 1983;Willmott, 1987).…”

Recruitment Strategies and Union Exclusion in Two Australian Call Centres

“…While researchers in the U.K. and Scotland have linked o 3 call center unionism with the nature and content of union policies, interunion rivalry and environmental conditions such as recognition clauses in workplace agreements (Taylor and Bain 2003;Gall and McKay 2001;Bain and Taylor 2002), there has been less research undertaken in Australian call centres. What we do know is that of the 200,000 employees in the call centre industry, approximately 15-20 percent are unionized (Australian Council of Trade Unions 2002).…”