A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
An evalution of three years of inquiry and
intervention in call centers, will be published by mid-September [see the content below]. Right now there is
only a printed version in German, but we hope to have an English one soon. The
German version has 224 pages, some art(zero)work and a CD with the book and
other texts in German and English.
The web-version in English will be on this site soon. If you want to get the
German printed one, you need to transfer some money, etc. For more details look
[here].
If you are outside Germany, send us an email first and we will send you the exact
costs including package and postage:
[kolinko at prol-position.net]
Here the contents of the book:
1 We've got something to tell you
2 Inquiry: understand, intervene
3 Evaluation: three years in call centers
Concrete aims of the inquiry
What we did
How we see that today: interviews, website, leaflets, working
How this was recived by the left
What moved us, what would we do differently today?
4 Call Center: In the whirlpools of circulation
A hell of a service?! What is a call center?
Don't believe the hype! The emergence of call centers
Boom, Boom, Bang! What's creating the crisis?
5 Everyday Working Life
Agents - Where they're from and what they are up to
Hiring - Assessment Center
Skills - Who still hasn't got them
Work steps - Logged in to the machine, and out of your dreams.
Cooperation - From productive to subversive teamwork
Machinery - Never mind the call master
Hierarchy - Here is the teamleader
Being on the telephone - What service?
Workers' behavior - Survival techniques
General perspective - Report out of one of the shitty places
6 Confrontations: the pulse of collective struggles...
Points of conflict: work relations, increased exploitation, controls, rip offs
Lines of struggle: sabotage, petitions, strikes
Forms of organising: (base)unions, solidarity groups, self-organising
Conclusion
7 Proposal: the next steps...
Inquiry
Exchange
www.prol-position.net
8 Appendix
Questionnaires
hotlines-leaflets
Literature and links
Call center-list
Glossary
kolinko | 8/2002
1.1 This report went online today:
fiat-call centre in milano At the beginning everything looks really nice when you enter Fiat's call centre in Milan. Lots of space, multi-coloured cubicle walls and little flags, lots of young people sitting in front of large monitors, wandering around or relaxing and smoking in the corner by the vending machines. They speak all kinds of languages: Italian, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Polish... Something between an internet cafe, a children's day care centre and one of those newsrooms in an American TV soap... For more click here: www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/kolinko/prols/en/en_fiats.htm
1.2 The Fiat-article is part of the book that kolinko wrote. It's called: "hotlines - call centre | inquiry | communism". You can find a web-version under http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/kolinko/lebuk/e_lebuk.htm
Stay tuned!