France’s Teleperformance in workers’ rights talks with union

PARIS (Reuters) – French office services and call centre company Teleperformance, which has come under pressure in Colombia over its employee relations, on Thursday said it had begun talks with the UNI Global Union.

“Both parties are currently working diligently with the aim to come rapidly to a global mutual agreement on labour rights,” a Teleperformance statement said.

Teleperformance’s shares had slumped this month as a result of a probe into its work practices in Colombia, with staff complaining over working conditions.

Teleperformance Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Julien said earlier this month that he believed the group would reach an agreement with Colombia’s Ultraclaro union group, which represents IT and call centre workers, and that the company respected the relevant laws in the United States and elsewhere.

Teleperformance’s shares edged up 0.7% in early Thursday trading, although the stock remains down around 46% since the start of 2022.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by David Goodman and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)