INTERNATIONAL WEEK OF ACTION STARTING JANUARY 12

As we have been informing for the last month, the CNT-AIT Salamanca has started a conflict against the telemarketing company Arvato-Qualytel. The conflict is motivated by the model of employment in this company, based on contracts through temporary work agencies Adecco and Randstad.

In this way Arvato-Qualytel has the option to freely dismiss any worker by letting the contract expire, but this is not all. We can add up all the rights lost by the workers contracted by the temporary work agencies, which means no paid vacations, fewer days off if a relative is hospitalized, application of the Collective Agreement for Temporary Work Agencies instead of the one for Contact Centers and the lack of any compensation when fired.

To cover stable work places under temporary contracts is clearly illegal and the work inspection has confirmed this over 6 months ago, but it is cheaper for Arvato-Qualytel to pay the penalties than to recognize what is evident: that 40 percent of the staff is contracted through a temporary work agency when they are really the employees of the company. Tired of this scam, various comrades of the CNT-AIT started a case, created a union section in the company together with workers contracted directly by Arvato-Qualytel, making demands to the company in matters of the method of employment, health and safety, breaks and salaries. The response of the company was negative and the dismissal through „expiration of the contract” of the comrades in the union who were employed by the temporary work agency, who are waiting for a court case. This is when the conflict was made public, concentrating on demands for the direct and indefinite employment of the workers contracted by the tempory work agencies and the reinstatement of the dismissed comrades.

It was decided to extende the conflict with Arvato-Qualytel to Orange, which is the main client of Arvato-Qualytel in Salamanca. If Orange knows about the working conditions of the people who take care of their clients, answer their lines, sell their products and solve complaints and customer incident, then Orange is an accomplice in exploitation. For this reason, a day of struggle at Orange outlets was called throughout the country.

In Salamanca, there were 3 pickets at different Orange outlets which were positive, with a good turnover of people who support the union of the CNT-AIT in Arvato-Qualytel. In a small city with this model of employment, many people have friends of relatives who have been exploited by the company.
We also have received news of solidarity actions. Unions of the CNT-AIT from places like Albacete, Cornellá de Llobregat, Elx, Granada, Iruña or Miranda de Ebro organized pickets at Orange outlets. We thank the unions of the CNT-AIT for the solidarity and we are conscious that their support is fundamental to a syndicalism based on self-management and mutual aid and we are sure that thanks to their help we will win and emerge reinforced from the conflict. We warn Arvato-Qualytel and Orange that the workers can be in solidarity with each other, beyond border and therefore we have called for a week of international solidarity with the rest of the IWA in January.

FOR DIRECT AND STABLE EMPLOYMENT IN ARVATO-QUALYTEL
REINSTATEMENT OF THE DISMISSED COMRADES