POOR wages and salaries, abuse, and deplorable toilet facilities were chief among the complaints made by workers of Qualfon call centre, located at Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara (ECD), on Thursday when Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Simona Broomes, and a team from the Department of Labour made an impromptu visit to the location.Many of the workers — who wished to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation at the hands of their superiors; or, worst-case scenario, losing their jobs — said they were tired of the treatment meted out to them by their supervisors, and even the person managing the canteen at the Goedverwagting location.

“If you have a 100 per cent on your score card you’d get like thirty-something thousand a fortnight, if you don’t get 100 per cent, you’d get like $22,000, something around that,” an employee of the call centre, who has been employed there for six years, said.

That employee noted many persons are afraid to speak out for fear of losing their jobs. “People are afraid to speak, Minister. People have families and they need to be paid. When you speak out, a few days after, the managers pick on you,” one employee said as Minister Broomes requested a private meeting with the junior staff of the company.

“We have to work all holidays, and we are paid time and a half on Sundays,” one very frustrated employee blurted out.

The employee said it is mandatory for all employees to work on Christmas Day; something they (employees) feel is unreasonable. “They haven’t even given us the option…they say we have to work… we have families, Minister. I am sure they don’t need all of us to work…something has to be done.”

“We have issues with the canteen, the washrooms; you would have checked the washrooms and seen…it is ridiculous. We only get 25 minutes’ lunch (break) but you need to get back to your system within 22 minutes, or you’d be disciplined,” another employee complained.

It was also noted that trainee employees are paid $16,000 a fortnight, but after tax, that amount is reduced to a mere $12,000. “Minister, you really have to look into this. The amount of money they paying trainees is too low,” a worker said.

Food at the canteen is unacceptable for consumption, the employees said, noting that many times they are forced to return the food and purchase food from outside of the premises. “You can’t buy lunch from the canteen, eat and come back to your system in 22 minutes. The man at the canteen sells spoilt food; the food is not fresh.”

Another issue affecting the workers is the “high” amount of tax deducted from their already meagre salaries. “The salary is low…we work over time to get it up a bit, but by the time you get paid, all of the overtime money is deducted as tax…we are working overtime to have an increase in salary,” an employee added.

Another opined that the situation at Qualfon is appalling; that there is a routine time for workers to go to the washroom. “They have a particular time for us to go to the washroom,” the woman said, noting that many women have contracted yeast infections because of the deplorable conditions of the washrooms.

“Every two mornings the washrooms are down…there are 1200 employees here, people needed to be able to use the washroom regularly,” she said.

Additionally, the workers complained of the spreading of chicken pox at the location. According to the workers, management of the Call Centre did not fumigate the location and press for the isolation of those with the infection.

“Chicken pox, minister, spreading in here; the virus is here! I had chicken pox and (the authorities) are not doing anything (about it). I am not the only one,” an employee said.

“My health is important,” another one chimed in, noting that more needs to be done to protect the work force at Qualfon.

Minister Broomes explained that the Occupational and Safety Health Department of her ministry should have been notified of the spreading of the infectious disease, despite representatives of the company stating that the Ministry of Health was notified.

Almost all of the workers who met with Minister Broomes complained that they were not in receipt of copies of their contracts with the company. According to the employees of the call centre, they were “rushed” into signing the contracts.

“None of the copies were returned to us…they gave us two contracts to sign and they rush you…you don’t even get a chance to read it properly. They promise that we’d get the copy back, but we (didn’t).”

Some of the terms written in the contracts, as indicated to Minister Broomes, were in contravention of the laws of Guyana.
It was observed by the Minister’s team of officials that there were limited documents relevant to the persons employed and working at the Goedverwagting location, something that Minister Broomes disapproved of.

“You must have the document for the persons who are stationed here…it must be here! Are you telling me that I have to go to Providence to get the information for this location?” she asked senior personnel of the company.

Meanwhile, after meeting with the various tiers of staff present at the Goedverwagting location, Minister Broomes explained that several breaches of the labour laws were discovered, and she will meet with the top brass management of the company to ensure that their policies are changed to comply with the Laws of Guyana.
“We have countrywide inspections that we have been conducting. We have been receiving complaints, and because of what we were told, I said today I would come and pay them a visit,” Minister Broomes said, explaining why she and her team visited Qualfon.

The Minister noted that more companies would be visited and inspections carried out. “We will come to sit and see if the complaints or allegations made against the company are true; and if so, we have to make changes.”

“We did have a lot of anonymous complaints: persons called, persons sent letters, and I did mention that they write me and don’t sign names because of [their fear of] victimisation. They complained about salaries, health,” Minister Broomes told the media.
Asked what the Ministry’s next step after inspection was, Minister Broomes said, “We have to ensure compliance. Once we get compliance we would have better worker relationships, and that is what we hope to achieve.”

Minister Broomes said the workers have nothing to fear. “The workers should not be scared of being victimised. I don’t see the need for workers to be victimised. I don’t expect workers to be victimised,” she added.

The Mexico-headquartered call centre provides services to many businesses worldwide.

By Ariana Gordon