News

French company Teleperformance has failed in its attempt to fire the General Secretary of the SITRATEL union in the Dominican Republic, Pedro Ramirez, for alleged work faults.

The verdict against Teleperformance’s charges was unanimous, with all four judges who heard the case agreeing that the company cannot legally fire the union General Secretary.

The failed court action against Ramirez was the first of three legal cases taken by Teleperformance against the SITRATEL union and its leadership in the Dominican Republic.

Teleperformance still has court action pending to dismiss SITRATEL’s Secretary of Organization, Oliver Benson for criticizing human and labour rights abuses by the company in the Dominican Republic on Facebook. The company’s Dominican legal counsel has warned the SITRATEL union and their federation that Teleperformance will bring criminal proceedings against any employee, including union leaders, that publicly criticize the company or its clients for any reason.

In April, Dominican courts are due to hear claims from Teleperformance that the SITRATEL union should be deregistered, which would leave the company without any union representation in the country.

UNI believes that Telepeformance’s actions in the Dominican Republic have little merit and constitute an attack on the right to freedom of association and free speech by the French company.

The corporations that subcontract contact centre work to Teleperformance in the Dominican Republic are AT&T, Mega-Bus (owned by Stagecoach), Florida-Blue, Fed-Ex and American retailer Khols.

SITRATEL is part of the FEDOTRAZONAS labour federation in the Dominican Republic, which is affiliated to UNI Global Union.

Telepeformance is the world’s largest provider of outsourced contact centres, employing over 190,000 workers globally. The headquarters of Teleperformance is in Paris and the company is listed on the Paris stock exchange.