Rudoplph Brown, Staff Photographer
Vere Freeman, an ex-employee of Teleservices Jamaica's operations at the Portmore Infomatics Park, displaying her fortnightly pay slip showing wages of just over $5,000 she earned as a telemarketer. Yesterday, dismissed workers protested that salaries were owed to them and that they were unfairly dismissed by the company. AS THE Government's information technology programme continues to unreel, ex-employees of American company Teleservices Jamaica's call centre in the Portmore Infomatics Park, yesterday staged a peaceful protest over dismissals.
The ex-workers demonstrated outside the company's gates in Portmore, stating that over 200 of the 300 people drafted by the company in November have already been fired.
Between Monday and yesterday, they say that over 40 telemarketers were dismissed from the call centre, with 15 laid off Monday evening, 19 on Thursday night and seven dismissed yesterday morning during the protest.
The workers, who sell health and diet drugs to Americans via the telephone, said the reasons for the dismissals included not meeting the sales quota set by the company.
They said that the partly-government funded company had been mandated to employ 2,500 people, with 1,500 being scheduled to be on board by the end of 2001, and was trying to keep face, by firing them and take in new batches of people weekly to fill the gap. A new batch which they said came in January, was spotted in training yesterday.
The telemarketers are taken from institutions like HEART, given additional training in diction, people skills and anger management, then put on the 'phone to sell.
Following close on the heels of the controversy surrounding the collapse of Netserv, which has been placed in receivership, was the revelation that many more offshore companies in the sector which benefited from the fund were also behind in their projections for job creation. The six companies so far that have received funding under the Government's programme are Teleservices Jamaica, the New Kingston-based NetServ, Bay Telemarketing, based in Montego Bay, Caytech Call Centre of Buff Bay, Portland, Jamaica Call Centre in Kingston and Montego Bay and Pathway Technologies in Kingston.
"Management told us we had nothing to worry about," said Kerry Ann Smith, who said her services were terminated on Tuesday.
Others said that they were told to vacate the premises and leave without prejudice, still others said that they were escorted into an exit interview and told that if their services were needed later, they would be called back.
Chief Operating Officer, Arthur Friedman, said in a telephone interview, they were terminated because their skills did not meet the minimum requirements of clients.
"Not everyone is cut out to be a telemarketer," he said.
He said that his clients keep close surveillance of all calls via a monitoring system that the telemarkerters know about. If the telemarketers' attitude and diction aren't up to par, they are warned, then let go.
Mr. Friedman said that telemarketing in Jamaica can be enormously successful, and his company was providing as many jobs as possible. Those that were not cut out for the job, were hindering the many who were.
He said that the company chose Jamaica because the labour force was good and "Jamaicans are in general good salespeople". He said that those employed by him are paid substantially more than their Jamaican counterparts.
He explained that after a 90 day probationary period which includes the training at HEART, the successful are provided with health benefits and uniforms. Everyone gets a hot meal and free transportation everyday. "In light of the new global economy, people can be let go at any time", he said adding that 20-30 telemarketers in Portmore had been promoted.
He said that staff are not employees rather they are associates who are provided with health care benefits, meals, transportation home from work and uniforms. He said the policy would be to promote from within the company at all levels.
