Ringing the Changes? Union Recognition and Organisation in Call Centres in the UK Finance Sector

The massive rise in UK call centre employment in recent years has been closely related to developments in the finance sector. This paper analyses these developments in order to contextualise the organisational experiences of unions in the sector. Recruitment activity in both hostile and compliant employer environments, and findings from the first national survey of call centre employees' attitudes towards trade unionism, are discussed, and the prospects for union recruitment and organisation are assessed.

[1]  P. Bain,et al.  Seizing the Time? Union recruitment Potential in Scottish Call Centres , 2001 .

[2]  A. Wilkinson,et al.  Industry Change and Union Mergers in British Retail Finance , 2001 .

[3]  Philip Taylor,et al.  Trade Unions, Workers'Rights and the Frontier of Control in UK Call Centres , 2001 .

[4]  R. Delbridge,et al.  The TUC’s Organising Academy: an assessment , 2000 .

[5]  P. Thompson,et al.  Edwards Revisited: Technical Control and Call Centres , 2000 .

[6]  Bob Carter Adoption of the Organising Model in British Trade Unions: Some Evidence from Manufacturing, Science and Finance (MSF) , 2000 .

[7]  Peter Bain,et al.  Entrapped by the 'electronic panopticon'? worker resistance in the call centre , 2000 .

[8]  P. Bain,et al.  ‘An assembly line in the head’: work and employee relations in the call centre , 1999 .

[9]  M. Cully,et al.  Britain At Work : As Depicted by the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey , 1999 .

[10]  G. Gall Rethinking Industrial Relations: Mobilization, Collectivism and Long Waves , 1999 .

[11]  J. Kelly,et al.  Rethinking Industrial Relations: Mobilisation, Collectivism and Long Waves , 1998 .

[12]  David Knights,et al.  ‘What Happens when the Phone goes Wild?’: Staff, Stress and Spaces for Escape in a BPR Telephone Banking Work Regime , 1998 .

[13]  Jeremy Waddington,et al.  Why Do People Join Unions in a Period of Membership Decline , 1997 .

[14]  G. Gall Developments in Trade Unionism in the Financial Sector in Britain , 1997 .

[15]  Ranald Richardson,et al.  The Impact of ‘Telemediated’ Services on Corporate Structures: The Example of ‘Branchless’ Retail Banking in Britain , 1996 .

[16]  C. Whitston,et al.  Trade Unions : Growth, Structure and Policy , 1995 .

[17]  P. Edwards,et al.  Industrial relations : theory and practice in Britain , 1995 .

[18]  The Dynamics of Employee Relations , 1999 .

[19]  Peter L. Bain,et al.  The Determinants of Trade Union Membership in Britain: A Survey of the Literature , 1993 .

[20]  J. Kelly,et al.  Full-time Officers and Trade Union Recruitment , 1989 .