Maximus workers go on strike

Published 10:53 am Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

On Monday, call center workers at Maximus, the nation’s largest federal call center contractor, staged a strike at four of Maximus’ largest call centers located in Bogalusa, Hattiesburg, Miss., Chester, Va., and London, Ky.

In Bogalusa, the picket took place from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m. outside the Maximus Call Center at 411 Industrial Parkway Drive.

Maximus call center workers went on strike to protest what they call “poor working conditions,” including harsh attendance and bathroom break policies that have complicated care for themselves and their families as they work. Maximus employs one of the largest federally contracted workforces in the country under a contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Maximus employees also went on strike on March 23 earlier this year.

“We respect our employees’ legal right to attempt to organize, and any information we provide is designed to help them make an informed decision about union representation,” a Maximus spokesperson said in a statement after the March strike.

The statement also noted that Maximus has focused its efforts on “three overarching goals to benefit our employees.” Those goals are improving business processes and the work environment, improving pay and compensation above the minimum wage, and reducing employees’ out-of-pocket health care expenses.

The Bogalusa call center typically has between 600 and 700 employees on its payroll at a given time.