Welshing on the ratepayers?
Tuesday, May 8th, 2007A gift-horse “unions in political correctness gone mad” story for the tabloids today. Call centre staff will now no longer be obliged to issue a greeting in Welsh when they answer the phone for Vale of Glamorgan Council. Call me a linguo-fascist, but I think the CWU have a point here – though not just the one being made in the story.
Staff are understandably trying to cut down voice strain, and for some non-native speakers, the phlegmy rasp that is their best approximation of the lilting tones of their fathers is apparently doing their vocal chords no good at all. As a keyboard jockey, my 6 months of RSI a while back were only a small glimpse at the huge problems that damaging your voice could have for people who speak for a living.
Dave Joyce, CWU H&S officer, said: “Call centre work can be very intense and target driven and workers spend a large proportion of their day on the telephone. Vale of Glamorgan council call centre staff undoubtedly have a justified case which deserves support.”
Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Society, are protesting the decision, as going against the council’s obligations. A spokesperson said (presumably in translation): “The Vale of Glamorgan council has a Welsh language scheme, which requires them to deal bilingually with any correspondence with the public.”
Except, how much help precisely is a chirpy “Bore da” going to be when a Welsh speaker wants to order a new hywellybin? Everyone likes a friendly greeting, but people don’t tend to ring the council to just say hello in passing. If the call centre staffer can’t actually deal with the whole enquiry in Welsh, isn’t it just a little bit (a rare bit even) of window dressing, and probably more likely to annoy than help?
The council’s proposed solution, to include Welsh in the normal recorded greeting people hear, would seem to make sense – Hopefully though also employing more Welsh-speaking CWU members to deal with the Welsh questions, and giving people a chance to press 1 for English, 2 for Welsh.
