"‘Don’t allow you to go to the bathroom’: big tech’s call center workers in Greece on strike", 14 January 2025

Call center workers for some of the world’s biggest tech companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Netflix are accusing their employer of retaliating against union organisers, constantly surveilling staff and even refusing bathroom breaks.

In the US or Europe, if you call for technical or customer support from a big tech company, you may be speaking with a worker at one of Teleperformance’s call centers in Greece.

Teleperformance, the largest call center operator in the world, employs about 12,000 workers in Greece, serving more than 140 markets around the world in 43 different languages and dialects. ...

Workers who have been pushing for a collective labor agreement with Teleperformance in Greece say the company has recently retaliated with targeted layoffs of union leaders.

They say wages have remained unchanged since 2010, when Greece was hit by austerity measures by creditors, despite high inflation in recent years and increases to the cost of living.

Nikos Spyrelis, a call center worker at Teleperformance and president of Setep, the trade union representing Teleperformance workers in Greece, explained that the union effort began in early 2024 in response to the lack of any pay raises for years and increasing production pressure that workers are put under.

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He explained the workers are employed on short-term contracts, and during work hours are constantly surveilled, recorded and sent messages to ramp up production because the company receives bonuses from clients depending on how many calls they intake.

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Around half of the call center workers are from outside Greece and face issues with having their pay deducted for housing and utilities.

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He also claimed the workers aren’t allowed to receive visitors at their apartments, where they are surveilled by security.

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Migrant workers have reported facing harassment, bullying and intense productivity pressures at Teleperformance in Greece.

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The union has been pushing for permanent employment contracts, higher wages, job security measures for workers on visas and a decrease in working hours. But they say Teleperformance has opposed the unionization effort from the offset.

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The union has held 10 strikes, with the most recent in December 2024, to push Teleperformance to sign a collective labor agreement with the union, which claimed the company has engaged in retaliatory layoffs aimed at union leaders and supporters.

They said Teleperformance argued in court in Greece that they were not a communications company, claiming the union was not applicable to their sector.

Ghassen Ben Jannet, a Teleperformance worker in Greece from Tunisia and vice-president of the union, told Le Monde last month he was one of the targeted union leaders who were terminated.

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Teleperformance did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.

Netflix, Google and Apple also did not respond to requests for comment.