New York, NY – Carter Myers-Brown at The Chief reports on New York City LanguageLine Interpreters: When a patient walks into a New York City Hospital and doesn’t speak English, or when a resident calls 911 in a language other than English, it falls to a LanguageLine Solutions Interpreter to bridge the gap.
Now, many of these Interpreters are calling for their company to respect their right to Unionize – and they have found empathetic ears inside the New York City Council. The Communications Workers of America (CWA), which is supporting the organizing effort, and City Lawmakers are escalating pressure on LanguageLine Solutions and its parent company, Teleperformance, as the Interpreters point to new data revealing low pay, high stress and deteriorating service conditions.
At a press conference held on the steps of City Hall earlier this month, Council Members joined Comptroller Mark Levine and LanguageLine Interpreters to call on the company to recognize Workers’ Organizing Rights and address workplace concerns. Officials also highlighted the formation of a Worker-led Health and Safety Committee, which Interpreters say is intended to formalize discussions with management over conditions affecting their work. LanguageLine Solutions provides telephonic interpretation for more than 30,000 clients worldwide, including New York City Agencies with more than $19 million in active contracts.
Its Interpreters help ensure language access for roughly 1.79 million New Yorkers with limited English proficiency, facilitating communication in hospitals, courts and across City services.
