Biden Administration Protects Labor Rights in Call Centers

Last week, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced that the United States has asked the Mexican government to review whether call center workers employed by multinational customer support services contractor Atento Services are being denied the right to free association and collective bargaining. This is an historic first, as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) Rapid Response Mechanism has never before been used for workers in the customer support field.

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. applauded the innovative move, stating, “Ambassador Tai’s action protects workers in both the United States and Mexico by strengthening rights across the industry and combating the longstanding race to the bottom. Our members and our union stand in solidarity with the workers…in their fight for union recognition and the just pay and benefits that they have earned and deserve.”

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.