Andrew J.R. Stevens - Call Centers and the Global Division of Labor

Call centers have come, in the last three decades, to define the interaction between corporations, governments, and other institutions and their respective customers, citizens, and members. The offshoring and outsourcing of call center employment, part of the larger information technology and information-technology-enabled services sectors, continues to be a growing practice amongst governments and corporations in their attempts at controlling costs and providing new services. While incredible advances in technology have permitted the use of distant and offshore labor forces, the grander reshaping of an international political economy of communications has allowed for the acceleration of these processes. New and established labor unions have responded to these changes in the global regimes of work by seeking to organize call center workers. These efforts have been assisted by a range of forces, not least of which is the condition of work itself, but also attempts by global union federations to build a bridge between international unionism and local organizing campaigns in the Global South and Global North. Through an examination of trade union interventions in the call center industries located in Canada and India, this book contributes to research on post-industrial employment by using political economy as a juncture between development studies, the sociology of work, and labor studies.

Andrew J.R. Stevens is Assistant Professor of Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations in the Faculty of Business Administration at University of Regina.

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Call Centers and the Global Division of Labor
A Political Economy of PostIndustrial Employment and Union Organizing
Andrew J.R. Stevens

Call Centers and the Global Division of Labor

A Political Economy of Post-Industrial Employment and Union Organizing

Andrew J.R. Stevens

First published 2014
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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2014 Taylor & Francis

The right of Andrew J.R. Stevens to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stevens, Andrew J. R.
Call centers and the global division of labor: a political economy ofpost-industrial employment and union organizing / Andrew J.R. Stevens.
pages cm. (Routledge advances in sociology; 120)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Call centers. 2. Call centersCanada. 3. Call centersIndia. 4 TelecommunicationEmployeesLabor unions.5. TelecommunicationEmployeesLabor unionsCanada. 6. TelecommunicationEmployeesLabor unionsIndia. I. Title.
HE8788.S74 2014
381dc23
2013027778

ISBN13: 978-0-415-65913-0 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-07517-3 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by IBT Global.

There are a great many people to thank for bringing this book to fruition. My time as a graduate student at Queen's University was full of illuminating experiences that helped me write the dissertation that is the foundation for the book. Most of these experiences were positive. Vincent Mosco, my supervisor, could not have provided better guidance and support throughout the entire research and writing phase of this project. I can't thank Vinny enough for the mentorship he has shown me and countless other students in the ways of critical scholarship, and for the importance he placed on the role of academics as public intellectuals. A deep appreciation is also owed to Frank Pearce who has been a tremendous influence on me throughout grad school and beyond. Few academics parallel his love for social theory.