In 2020 we faced unexpected challenges to our health and safety, to our unions and to the workers we represent. We felt the pain of loss of valuable lives and the stress of isolation, job loss, and economic crisis. UNI ICTS pays tribute to the lives lost in 2020 and recognizes the role of ICTS affiliates in keeping the global economy connected during the massive demand for on-line services throughout the pandemic.
Despite these challenges the UNI ICTS affiliates showed their resilience and commitment as demonstrated in just a few highlights from this incredibly difficult year in our sector. These are just a few highlights of our work in 2020.
In February, we signed the renewal of our global agreement with Telenor, following the resolution of the dispute over recognition of the union GPEU in Telenor’s Bangladeshi subsidiary, Grameenphone. The agreement was put to the test in 2020 when GEPU general secretary Mia Masud was abruptly fired from the company. As of this writing, Mia is still not reinstated and our fight for his return to work will likely continue into 2021.
At the start of the pandemic, the members of the Orange Alliance took swift action to ensure that the UNI-Orange Global Agreement on Health and Safety was being fully implemented in the subsidiaries, prioritizing worker involvement and negotiation at every stage. This agreement allowed for smooth implementation of safety measures, greater worker buy-in, and functioning systems to meet the workplace changes brought on by the pandemic.
In May, UNI signed a global Return to the Workplace agreement with the Spanish company Telefonica. The agreement defines the safety standards for Telefonica employees to return to their workplaces, as well as a commitment to work with the unions throughout the operations to develop and implement local plans.
Throughout 2020, ICTS affiliates representing Ericsson employees around the world worked to strengthen their communication and coordination in support of new organizing in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Ghana and Nigeria, and expanded the agenda for dialogue with global management.
In Africa, the affiliates representing and organizing workers in MTN, Orange and Maroc Telecom undertook a series of organizing trainings, followed by support and coaching through UNI SCORE, to develop plans to increase membership and strengthen bargaining capacity over the next year.
Throughout the pandemic, contact center workers have been designated essential workers, often taking on functions previously handled in in-person settings, working under the stress of high demand, and often forced to work in unsafe centers with large groups of workers, shared equipment, and lack of personal protective equipment.
In 2020, we saw contact center workers fight back against these conditions, often self-organizing through worker petitions, contacting media, seeking help from local labor and health authorities, engaging in concerted logouts, and staging work stoppages.
UNI ICTS worked extensively with contact center workers from Teleperformance in Albania, Colombia, Romania, the Philippines, Poland, and Portugal- shifting to an online organizing model based on intensive training and coaching to support local organizers working directly with workers.
In Teleperformance, the pandemic conditions brought to light the concerns of workers about their safety and the need to act collectively to protect themselves. Workers in Poland carried out online the entire organizing process and the founding assembly of their new union. Workers in the Philippines organized groups in centers throughout the country and many provided testimonies to press, leading to ground-breaking exposés in several press outlets in France, the United States and Australia.
UNI ICTS, along with four French affiliates, CFDT Fédération communication conseil culture, CGT-FAPT, CGT Fédération des Sociétés d’Etudes and FO- FEC, submitted the first-ever Specific Instance on Covid-19 health and safety to the French National Contact Point for application of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
The year 2020 saw the expansion of the Teleperformance Alliance and the campaign actions at every level: workers organising on the ground, the alliance members pushing from inside their local operations, social media actions, press publications, engagement of 43 investors and several key corporate clients that contract with Teleperformance, and the OECD complaint to the French government. While our campaign has not yet led to a global agreement, it has supported the movement among Teleperformance workers and built a global voice for their demands for rights and fair conditions on the job.
IT, tech and games worker organizing made important strides in 2020. Working entirely online, we held three tech and games organizing workshops, supported 14 European affiliates from 10 countries in developing a plan for the Google European Works Council, and held a mini-conference with unions organizing Google workers.
IT workers in Romania and Serbia continued their organizing programs with support from UNI ICTS and UNI SCORE, leading to the formation of five new unions and the negotiation of four agreements. Through the Apro IT organizing network we have supported IT organizing efforts in Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Finally, focusing on our strategy for the new world of work and building on the UNI 2019 position paper on artificial intelligence, UNI Europa ICTS worked collaboratively in the AI Working Group to develop a series of webinars to train affiliates on the impacts of AI and to examine case studies in addressing those impacts through bargaining, advocacy and legislation.
These training webinars were highly successful, and the AI Working Group was asked to make them available in 2021- including for affiliates outside the sector and in other regions. The position paper was also widely disseminated and December 2020, UNI Europa ICTS and the employer counterpart ETNO reached a joint statement on
AI, thus positioning UNI Europa ICTS as a unique worker voice on AI within the European Social Dialogue.
