Colleagues,
Those who cannot physically attend the meeting today, you will be able to attend the meeting online by following the procedure below.
WE PARTICIPATE IN THE ELECTIONS OF THE WORKERS’ UNION OF WEBHELP 27 AND 29 MAY AND 1 JUNE
WE STRENGTHEN OUR UNION – WE STRENGTHEN OUR STRUGGLE
We invite you to become a member of the union and participate in its elections. So that many members new members can join from each department of Webhelp. Because the union is the place where colleagues meet, discuss, decide, show their solidarity for every problem in our lives and we all fight it together!
WE ARE ALL TOGETHER AGAINST THE FEAR THAT THE MANAGEMENT IS TRYING TO SOW!
Our magnificent strikes for our fair demands are what give birth to the Workers’ Union in Webhelp, our “home”!
With our great struggle since February, we said “enough is enough” with the stress of whether the month will come out, the intensification of work, the unreachable targets, the evaluation programme and blackmail, the layoffs, the special purpose visa regime and the employers’ attempt to sow fear. We refuse to continually pay the price so that Webhelp can satisfy customers and increase profits!
After six strikes and other mobilizations, this struggle continues! We demand here and now that the company drop the pretenses and talk about signing a Collective Labour Agreement with increases for all colleagues!
WE ARE ALREADY COUNTING OUR FIRST VICTORIES
Already with our Union we are counting steps and small victories without of course stopping until all our demands are met. Through the struggle of the Workers’ Union in Webhelp, together with the Workers’ Union in Teleperformance and the sectoral trade union SETIP, we managed to get a change in the special purpose visa regime so that the employment contract no longer needs to be presented for the examination of the documents for the renewal of residence permits.
Under pressure, the company promised and, in some cases, gave increases. However, these, like all the rights we have if they are not secured by Collective Agreement, are in abeyance. They can take them back or hire new colleagues with lower pay whenever they want.
We managed through our union to put a stop to the dismissal of colleagues through interventions, to not dismissing workers who are in the evaluation program and to reveal the way it is being used by the company, to give this small increase to the departments that are of obviously behind our needs.
Now we need to become even more. We participate in the election massively and we send a strong message to Webhelp that we are here!
In this struggle we were not alone! We fought together with our colleagues from Teleperformance and the other call centres, alongside our sectoral union, SETIP. We were there with our union during the national strikes! We put our efforts to strengthen this big front of unions all over Greece that fights against the policy that all governments have been implementing over time – a policy that serves the profitability of large companies like Webhelp, a policy that has brought inflation, work without Collective Agreement, without rights.
That’s how we will continue! Solidarity is our weapon!
WE DEMAND:
WE ALL GET ORGANIZED IN OUR UNION
GENERAL ASSEMBLY SUNDAY 19/5 AT 6.00 PM AT GLADSTONOS 3 (STOA FEXI), OMONIA, OFFICES OF TRADE UNION IN CATERING-TOURISM-HOTELS OF ATTICA
WE PARTICIPATE IN THE ELECTIONS 27, 29 MAY AND 1 JUNE
With the official declaration of the May Day strike by GSEE, the General Confederation of Workers of Greece all of us are covered to not attend work on Wednesday 1st of May starting from 00.00 until 00.00 Thursday the 2nd of May, as this is a justified absence by law.
Send them template below. So we will make sure they declare everything properly. Declare it ESPECIALLY if they have put you on a day off. So the participation can be counted properly.
On the day of the strike:
Do not log in, and if you do not feel like it, do not answer any calls by the management. They have no right to ask for any explanation or force you to come to work.
During the strike those working from home or in the buildings, we meet in front of the main building of Webhelp at 08.00 on Wednesday the first of May at Metropolis building.
We meet at 10.30 at Syntagma.
Together we will win! No one is alone!
Template for strike:
Dear (supervisor name),
I will be participating to the General 24 hour strike declared by GSEE, which constitutes a justified absence, covering all workers of (your company), as per the law 1264/82. In Support for the Unions call for signing a CLA and for the demands concerning all aspects of our work. Which echoe the general requests as well.
Thank you very much for your time in advance.
Kind regards,
(Name and last name)
We denounce the attempt of Webhelp – Concentrix to devalue the May Day strike with unacceptable tactics!
Specifically, in departments where colleagues participated massively in previous strikes, they are now being pressured to take a day off, saying that the May Day “holiday” has been moved by the government to May 7th.
We respond to the Webhelp – Concentrix management that on May Day the workers do not ask for a day off to go to the countryside, they strike globally in honour of the workers of all countries who gave their lives to have basic labour rights which are daily violated! We are on strike at Webhelp to have a Collective Labour Agreement with increases – we call once again on the management to proceed immediately with the procedures for signing it.
May Day is not a Bank Holiday, it’s a Strike Day!
Through the previous strikes that we, the workers of Webhelp, have organized, we forced the company to make increases. We make it clear that we are not stopping our struggle for signing a collective labour agreement since these increases are far from the needs based on the situation!
We have achieved a major victory on the special purpose visa issue.
We created our Union with hundreds of colleagues becoming members. We confronted layoffs and terrorism within the projects.
We proved that only when we are organised and struggle together for our self-evident rights can we count victories in these difficult times.
We call on all our colleagues to participate en masse in the strike meetings of our union on 1 May, giving once again an answer to all those who want us bowed down, without memory and ultimately without a future.
For us, for our children, for our lives, not for their profits!
We demand:
Against the attempt to intimidation, we all become members of our Union and call on our colleagues to do the same.
Only in this way will we build a shield of protection against any attempt to intimidate workers!
ALL ON STRIKE ON MAY 1st, 10.30 AM AT SYNTAGMA
We won!
A Circular of the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum to its services, informs them that they will no longer need to ask for the employment contract during the examination of supporting documents for the renewal of residence permits.
For the renewal of the residence permit, the following will be required: a) proof of fulfillment of tax obligations during the period of validity of the residence permit to be renewed, b) proof of possession of active insurance capacity and c) receipt of one hundred and fifty (150) euros.
This directive is aiming to clarify how the process will be and is temporary. It comes to cover an existing gap until the announcement and full implementation of the new law. It applies to those immigrants who are already in Greece and also covers those who work in call centers. We remain alert to see exactly what the new law will state. It is a great victory for our movement as the residence of immigrants from countries outside the European Union in Greece is freed from their working relationship with Teleperformance, Webhelp and the other of the Call Centers.
The class united decisive struggle of the Call Center workers, mainly in Teleperformance and Webhelp, united and strengthened under the banners of SETIP and the newly formed company-level unions in Teleperformance and Webhelp brought significant results. Without our repeated heroic strikes, our protests outside the Ministries and the Parliament, without the submission of our demands to the Ministers and the President of the Parliament, we would not have had any change in the legal slavery visa. Our struggle through the class unions is the only victorious path.
We continue our fight for full human, political, labor, insurance and pension rights for all workers who live, toil and produce where they live. We all join our class unions! We are intensifying our fight. We are fighting for Collective Bargaining Agreements with significant increases and working rights.
With the official declaration of the strike by GSEE, the General Confederation of Workers of Greece all of us are covered to not attend work on Wednesday starting from 00.00 until 00.00 Thursday the 18th, as this is a justified absence by law.
Send them template below. Those of us that have been declared for a day off also send an email, as in many case they do it intentionally to decrease participation.
On the day of the strike:
Do not log in, and if you do not feel like it, do not answer any calls by the management. They have no right to ask for any explanation or force you to come to work. During the strike those working from home or in the buildings, we meet in front of Metropolis building for Webhelp at 08.00 on Wednesday the 17th of April.
We meet at 10.30 at Syntagma.
Together we will win! No one is alone!
Template for strike:
Dear (supervisor name),
I will be participating to the General 24 hour strike declared by GSEE, which constitutes a justified absence, covering all workers of (your company), as per the law 1264/82. In Support for the Unions call for signing a CLA and for the demands concerning all aspects of our work. Which echoe the general requests as well.
Thank you very much for your time in advance.
Kind regards,
(Name and last name)
Colleagues,
On Sunday 14/4 we collectively discussed in the General Assembly of the Union about our struggle these last two months, about what we have achieved and how we will continue. We come with momentum and determination to continue this struggle until our fair demands are achieved, until the final victory!
We know well that our struggle is a marathon and not a sprint so we will not let any big or small issue fall down.
– We are not going to tolerate any colleague being fired for KPIs, being put on an evaluation program with unreachable targets, losing their job because the company is downsizing departments.
– We are not going to be silenced when there are colleagues next to us who are held hostage by the awful special purpose visa status and are struggling for their future and the future of their families.
– We already know that through our struggle we have managed to start negotiating the Collective Labour Agreement. Under our pressure and struggle the company was forced to give “increases” of 50€ and 100€ gross for the first time, starting from the departments where our colleagues turned their backs on the company massively.
Our struggle is having an impact and we continue to be more and more determined to sign a collective agreement with increases that cover our modern needs.
In all this environment created by the company, we workers at Webhelp are responding with our massive participation in the national general strike on Wednesday 17 April!
We join our voices and our struggle with hundreds of unions all over Greece who are demanding wage increases and Collective Labour Agreements!
We put pressure on the company with mass participation to sit at the table for negotiation and signing a Collective Labour Agreement!
We are strengthening our Union, becoming its members and calling on our colleagues to do the same.
We gather in front of the Metropolis building at 08.00 a.m. and participate in the strike meeting at Syntagma at 10.30 a.m.
EVERYONE ON STRIKE ON 17 APRIL
WEBHELP IS GOING TO CONFRONT US WITH EVERY DISMISSAL AND EVERY ATTEMPT TO TERRORISE.
The employer of WEBHELP should immediately abandon the different plans to terrorise the workers and any thought of dismissing our colleagues. We call on them to withdraw the dismissals they have already made, to protect all the jobs and to sit down at the negotiating table to meet our just demands and to sign a collective agreement, for which they already have our proposal in their hands.
We tell them that their plans will find a response from the workers, they will fail once again as happened in the three previous strike battles when they tried with threats, lies, cajoling and all kinds of tricks to prevent the workers, they got an impressive militant response that was heard not only in Greece but also in many foreign countries!
THE UNION IS OUR SHIELD!
They also got a response on Thursday when they tried with funny excuses to fire a founding member of our Union from a department. It is typical of their panic that while they sent the dismissal in the mail they had to take it back a few hours later as the Union made an immediate intervention with the employer denouncing their shabby practices. This is the only way forward. No dismissal will go unanswered! We will not tolerate anyone losing their job!
They continue to defiantly tell us that they care about our “well being” as they are supposedly a “people first” company while they have put dozens of workers under strict surveillance (action plan) with the aim through terror of moving to another project or dismissal to increase their profits and extinguish any claim. While they are well aware that the cost of housing, energy, transportation, food, etc. is rising day by day they choose to keep wages frozen. While they are well aware of how difficult it is to find work they throw workers on the street under funny pretexts! Enough is enough!
We ask them directly: Do you think that we, the workers of 2024, will tolerate working in such conditions? With the daily threat of dismissal? In a climate of terror against anyone who defends their rights? In an environment where our colleagues are sacked?
If they believe this, they are deeply mistaken! For two months now we have been making it clear to them that collectively and in an organised manner they will find us in front of them in any attempt they make to harm even one of us. With every passing hour we are getting stronger and more united and that is what they are afraid of!
We are workers, not numbers in their files. We know full well that we produce the wealth they reap and they need us!
We are not signing any layoffs, we are not alone. To every such attempt by the employer to lay off we respond in an organized way with our union . We do not tolerate any aggressive or threatening behavior and we immediately report to the union any incident brought to our attention. We call on all our colleagues to organize in our Union and our sectoral union, the SETIP. We are ready to give an even more militant and massive response to the employer’s plans by putting forward our own modern needs and not the needs of the company that wants us to be slaves in the 21st century!
We salute the thousands of strikers who fought the battle in our third round of strikes against intimidation, threats and manipulation by the company. All those who joined our struggle for the first time. We are here and we continue, because our demands are fair and our struggle so far counts only victories!
We have managed to pressure Webhelp, breaking the isolation of remote working, going against the threats, the evaluation programme, the closures of departments, the calls for raises that never came. We didn’t sit down “behaving” as they wanted us to, but we joined our voices in our struggle!
In a very short time, we have managed to discuss collectively, in more and more departments, in almost every language. Through mass collective processes we decide our every step, we become more and stronger!
We are already victorious because our fair demands have brought us together, united us and now we are fighting side by side.
We are already victorious because out of the fire of our strike struggle the Workers’ Union of Webhelp (WUW) was born and as of yesterday it is legally approved.
We are already victorious because after the workers’ mobilization and our pressure the Ministry of Immigration has backed down on the visa issue. The new immigration code that was passed may have made the visa worse from special purpose to post-immigration, but the Minister pledged in Parliament that it will not get worse. However, and the existing regulations still hold colleagues hostage. That is why on 21/3 at 6.30 pm we continue with a mobilisation at the Ministry of Immigration.
We are already victorious because we have managed to break the multinationals’ front, with Webhelp sitting at the table and having our demands formally submitted to them.
We the workers who make all their wealth have made it clear that we want a Collective Agreement, with rights, with substantial improvement in working conditions and we are not backing down. We now officially call on the company to come to the table and discuss without any more excuses.
We are strengthening our Union, WUW, joining it and organizing our struggle in all departments of the company. On any issue big or small we get in touch, no one is left alone.
We are going on a mobilization on Thursday 21 March 6.30 pm at the Ministry of Immigration to have residence permit as workers in any company in any industry!
We are here, we are many, we will win!
Athens, 23/2/2024
SETIP informs the workers that yesterday, Friday 23 February, a delegation consisting of the President of SETIP Alekos Perrakis and members of the temporary board of the Worker’s Union of Webhelp, held the first meeting with Webhelp, for the signing of an Industrial Collective Labour Agreement.
The discussion revealed that the company is positive about collective bargaining and workers representation. However, it did put legalistic conditions on our sectoral union. To remove any argument from the employers we insisted that negotiations continue and once there is an agreement, we can find a way to overcome any formal obstacles. We set out our basic demands based on our framework and committed to sending the draft collective agreement proposal on Monday to be discussed and decided at tomorrow’s meeting of Webhelp workers. We stressed that we would not tolerate it being seen as an unjustified absence for colleagues to participate in the strike and the company for its part committed to making a correction to the schedule to allow for the possibility of being declared before the strike.
The continuation of the negotiations should find the union even stronger, the workers should thicken its ranks to give strength to their voice.
We are all massively participating in the meeting of workers in Webhelp, on Sunday 25/2 at the Athens Labour Centre at 5.00 pm to co-decide and openly discuss the draft of the Industrial Collective Labour Agreement and decide the steps to be taken.