If you have a fault with your phone line or a problem with your
internet connection you'll end up calling BT 150 or 151. That's the
number for the fault centre. We work in the one in Brighton, but there
are similar centres in other parts of the country including Glasgow,
Blackburn, Leicester and Coventry. The call centre in Brighton is open
7 days a week from 7am until 11pm, and lots of shifts operate within
these hours (7-12, 9-14, 12-17 etc.). Overtime is normal especially
for those who work ‘part-time'. You can't live on the wage otherwise.
But of course you have to toe the line to get it.
We get a paid 10min break and a paid 15min computer screen break
during the shift. These are monitored through the ACD - if we take
more it shows up on our stats and we get grief from the manager. And
if we want to use the toilet it is taken out of our 10 min break.
Most of us work at BT through an employment agency - only a few
work directly for BT itself. In November 1999 full-time staff all over
the UK went on strike over this, as the number of agency workers was
increasing and were replacing full-timers. But there was only one
strike day because the union called the others off. So in the end
nothing changed except that the union made itself a more comfortable
bed inside BT's call centres. At this time Manpower was the agency,
but they were replaced by Hays a few months later. When Hays took over
they changed the time we were paid overtime from: before it was after
6pm, now it was after 8pm! And they reduced the supplement from time
and-three-quarters to time-and-a-half. Workers fought back against
this but in the end many left. If they hadn't, maybe we could have
stopped it… Since then work has got worse. We're hassled about our
stats everyday, there is constant pressure. You get about three
minutes to deal with each call - that's the limit to customer service.
If anything's going to change its up to us.