First collective agreement signed for call-centres and telemarketing

In February 2001, the Salaried Employees' Union (HTF) and the Swedish Service Employers' Association concluded a first collective agreement laying down general conditions for the Swedish call-centre and telemarketing branch. The agreement contains rules on flexible working time arrangements, the promotion of permanent employment and overtime pay.

A first collective agreement for the Swedish call-centre and telemarketing branch was signed on 2 February 2001. In the deal, the Salaried Employees' Union (Tjänstemannaförbundet HTF, HTF) and the Swedish Service Employers' Association (Tjänsteföretagens Arbetsgivarförbund) have agreed upon the general conditions for employment in the sector, with many of the agreed rules new and untested. The agreement states that great efforts are demanded from both parties in order to make the call-centre branch more stable (SE0010169F).

The call-centre and telemarketing agreement runs from 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2003. It states that, as a general rule, companies should have a permanently employed workforce. If workers on fixed-term contracts have worked for 832 hours over a period of 12 months, they should be offered open-ended employment. Ordinary working time in the sector may not exceed an average of 40 hours a week over a reference period, and may not exceed 48 hours in any week. Individuals have a degree of influence over when they work, being consulted by the employer before working time arrangements are fixed. The remuneration for overtime work will be set in fixed cash amounts.

Eric Hjerpe, an HTF official who was one of the agreement's negotiators, stated on 2 February that the trade union hopes that the agreement will neutralise unhealthy competition based on bad working conditions in the call-centre sector. According to the employers, the new call-centre and telemarketing agreement contain the most flexible working time rules of any agreement in Sweden. Instead of a fixed working time per day, company representatives can agree in consultation with each worker an individual working time schedule that suits both the company and the individual's family situation (many of the workers in this sector are young people with small children)

There are about 200 companies with a total of some 8,000 employees in the Swedish call-centre and telemarketing sector. The companies are spread over the whole country. The activities carried out by these companies include telemarketing, support services, call-handling and market research.