While working in conditions similar to those found in the meat-packing industry,  call center employees in the UK are demanding improvements in their work lives and environments.

UNISON, Britain's largest public sector trade union, is calling for the government to implement a Call Center Charter which would demand new policies for call center stations and the employees inside of them.

The Charter dictates that employees must remain harassment-free while at work. While harassment is illegal in Britain, it goes largely ignored by many British call center employees as they are in constant fear of losing their jobs, and a significant portion of employees consider it "part of the culture."

The boss-employee harassment trend obviously causes severe stress-related issues for many call center workers which are then compounded by the tendency of most supervisors to overly monitor employees. "With every second of their day scrutinized, every click of the mouse, their calls to customers monitored and every time they go to the toilet is timed," reported Paul Glover, a UNISON national executive officer.

As the Charter calls for the elimination of stress-inducing micro-management, it also requires flexibility of breaks, improving levels of trust from boss to employee, and logical standards for payment. Described as "modern day factory production lines," the call centers host 10,000 employees working where their toilet visits are limited to eight minutes a day, punishment is issued for trivial infractions of break time, and the pay is subpar.

In a survey of 3,000 workers, huge majorities of call center employees revealed that they consider stress a product of unrealistic targets set for their work standards, and inadequate management and harassment were found to be additional culprits. With no acknowledgement of an outside-work life, call center employees feel as though, "the bosses know we fear our jobs and prey on that. All we want is some balance and recognition that we have a life outside work," reported one anonymous employee.

Referred to as "21st century sweatshops" by Dave Prentis, UNISON's general secretary, the call centers will have to answer for the horrors they impose on their workers. Prentis claims, "Our Call Center Charter will help sweet away the petty rules and the pressure that still plague our call centers."

At its Annual National Delegate Conference and Exhibition this week, UNISON will reveal these statistical findings from surveys panning Britain's call center industry, and will issue the demands of the Charter.