Kaoutar Belaaziz says she has been told by customers that her name doesn’t sound white, and that they want to speak to someone who is white.

“I’ve been asked if I am in Canada — if I am Canadian,” said Belaaziz, who has worked at a Montreal call centre for nearly seven years. “You almost feel like a second-class citizen.”

That’s just one example of discrimination that call-centre employees like Belaaziz say they experience, thanks to the anonymity that the phone provides.

In addition, there is sometimes endless swearing, racial slurs, threats of violence or even sexually explicit comments.

That’s why the union representing call centre workers is launching a campaign on Wednesday called Hang Up On Abuse, urging employers and governments to protect workers.

Like others in the service or retail industry where the mantra is “the customer is always right,” the Telecommunications Workers Union, now part of United Steelworkers, wants call centre workers to be empowered to cut short calls with abusive or offensive callers.

“I have had a caller asking intelligent questions, but then he kept saying ‘Could you repeat your answers, there are lots of bubbles here,’ ” said Michelle Dey, who has worked at a call centre for 25 years in Vancouver. “He was in a hot tub pleasuring himself.”

In that particular case, Dey said she put the caller on hold, while she went to talk to a helpful manager, and by the time, she got back on the call, he had hung up.

“I have had co-workers who have been asked what colour panties they are wearing, or the colour of their nail polish,” Dey said. “My co-worker who is black received a caller who said, ‘Thank God, I’m speaking to a white person.’”

These types of abusive or offensive calls are unpredictable. Sometimes there might be more than one in a day, and then none for several weeks, she said.

Neither woman disclosed the name of their employer, saying they were only speaking out to raise awareness of the issue.

Lee Riggs, president of the United Steelworkers National Local 1944, which represents about 10,000 call centre workers, said this campaign is not focusing on any specific company – but rather hoping to bring change altogether.

“This happens in all call centres. Employers need to recognize that this is abuse, and this abuse is harmful to the employees and it should be taken seriously,” he said.

“You need to take this as a serious health and safety issue. If a customer says aggressive or vile or sexual or racist things, the employer should take the employee’s side,” said Riggs, who estimates there are 175,000 call centre workers, and possibly more across Canada.

Pay for these jobs can vary dramatically – from minimum wage to $30 an hour, though most would be in the $15-$20 range.

He also called for management training on how to support staff who have had difficult customers, flag callers who have a history of harassing staff, and a clear policy of zero tolerance for such abusive behaviour.

“In almost all cases, they record all of these calls. What we’re saying is if workers are getting someone like this, they should be allowed to end the call,” he said, and the employee should not face repercussions, “though many times, the worker is disciplined.”

Telus, whose call centre workers are represented by the United Steelworkers, said in a statement that “under no circumstances should any team member have to endure abusive treatment from a customer.”

It added that employees are trained how to handle angry or abusive customers, and provides ways to escalate calls to a manager, if they feel ill-equipped to handle a customer, or if the conversation has become abusive.

“We also have a policy of removing customers who are repeatedly abusive from our network. We will continue to work with call centre team members to ensure they have the support they need,” Telus said, adding discussions are ongoing with the union on the issue.

Call centre employees believe people have become emboldened in recent years, given there’s little punishment or penalty for such behaviour.

“Over the years, people have become bolder. They are not bound by social norms over the phone. You’re not face to face,” said Belaaziz. “They forget that words have meaning. They can be hurtful. They leave scars.”

Belaaziz said she understands that customers who are calling may be frustrated or upset.

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“They have a right to be angry. But their right stops there. They don’t have the right to be abusive or use racial slurs,” she said.

“Threats of physical violence or sexual violence need to be reported to authorities,” she added.

“We have to stop the approach ‘the customer is always right.’ If the customer is harassing you and degrading you, that cannot make the customer right.”