
Disconnected
Call Center Workers Fight for Good Jobs in the Digital Age
Debbie J. Goldman(Author)
University of Illinois Press
Published on 14. April 2025
Book
Hardback
264 pages
978-0-252-04605-6 (ISBN)
Description
Call center employees once blended skill and emotional intelligence to solve customer problems while the workplace itself encouraged camaraderie and job satisfaction. Ten years after telecom industry deregulation, management had isolated the largely female workforce in cubicles, imposed quotas to sell products, and installed surveillance systems that tracked every call and keystroke.
Debbie J. Goldman explores how call center employees and their union fought for good, humane jobs in the face of degraded working conditions and lowered wages. As the workforce coalesced to resist the changes, it demanded the Communications Workers of America (CWA) fight for safe and secure good-paying jobs. But trends in technology, capitalism, and corporate governance--combined with the decline of unions--narrowed the negotiating options for workers. Goldman describes how the actions of workers, management, and policymakers shaped the social impact of the new digital technologies and gave new form to the telecommunications industry in a time of momentous change.
Perceptive and nuanced, Disconnected tells an overlooked story of service workers in a time of change.
Debbie J. Goldman explores how call center employees and their union fought for good, humane jobs in the face of degraded working conditions and lowered wages. As the workforce coalesced to resist the changes, it demanded the Communications Workers of America (CWA) fight for safe and secure good-paying jobs. But trends in technology, capitalism, and corporate governance--combined with the decline of unions--narrowed the negotiating options for workers. Goldman describes how the actions of workers, management, and policymakers shaped the social impact of the new digital technologies and gave new form to the telecommunications industry in a time of momentous change.
Perceptive and nuanced, Disconnected tells an overlooked story of service workers in a time of change.
Reviews / Votes
"Disconnected is one of the most insightful accounts of corporate power, work, and unionism that I have read in years. Goldman's research is meticulous, her judgments astute, and her prose crystal clear. She tells a story not of triumph but of resourcefulness and grit in an era of relentless corporate deregulation and technological change."--Gary Gerstle, author of The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market EraMore details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Baltimore
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
7 black & white photographs, 13 charts, 7 tables
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-252-04605-6 (9780252046056)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Debbie J. Goldman is the former Research Director and Telecommunications Policy Director with the Communications Workers of America.
Content
Preface and Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
Before the Breakup
Becoming a Workforce of Resistance
Organizing to Block the Low Road Path
False Promises? Job Redesign through Union-Management Partnerships
Fighting for Job Security
Striking for Stress Relief
Epilogue
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Abbreviations
Introduction
Before the Breakup
Becoming a Workforce of Resistance
Organizing to Block the Low Road Path
False Promises? Job Redesign through Union-Management Partnerships
Fighting for Job Security
Striking for Stress Relief
Epilogue
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index