Posts tagged with call center

0 comments

October 6, 2010

Call Center Agents Unite!

Call center agents and BPO workers unite! Support House Bill 2592!

A few days ago, a call center agent visited us at the Congress office to express her despair over the working conditions in her place of work. She’s now been dismissed (for being a “trouble maker”), and is currently fighting for her separation benefits in court. She reveals how she’s also been afflicted with carpal tunnel syndrome which her company refuses to compensate as a work-related problem. She claims she is not the only one suffering the same. Many of her co-workers have apparently also gotten pneumonia, two of whom had died. Many of them also have urinary tract infection (UTI).

She is not the first one to approach us narrating their problems working with BPO companies. It has become apparent that many BPO (business process outsourcing) companies commit various forms of exploitation in order to rake in the profits from this “sunshine industry”. From refusing to grant regularization to workers having had worked for more than six months (through various schemes), to refusing to provide adequate health and occupational safety services in such a sickness-prone environment (one of the surprisingly very common grievance is the no-bathroom break policy), many (I would assume that not all) companies (as in any industry) employ various means to maintain their profit margins at the expense of their employees.

Read the rest of this entry »

18 comments

August 18, 2009

The Call of Call Center Agents

Privilege Speech of Rep. Raymond “Mong” Palatino
Delivered on August 17, 2009

Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, I rise on behalf of fellow young Filipinos denied of their dreams and were forced to enter the illusory world of call centers.

The tale of Filipino youths setting aside their childhood dreams to enter the call center industry is fast becoming a common story. More and more young Filipinos are being lured into working in a call center regardless of their educational background. A starting salary of P15,000 on average is indeed attractive, not to mention the signing bonus and incentives for good work performance.

As the global financial crisis sweeps ominously into Asian shores, the Philippine government has continuously promoted and relied on the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry to provide opportunities to millions of jobless Filipinos. The number of jobs generated grew robustly from 99,000 workers in 2004 to 372,000 workers in 2008, most of them in their 20s.

For the government, the BPO sector is a major contributor in terms of revenues and employment generation. From $350 million in 2001, revenues generated from the BPO sector surged to $6 billion in 2008. The government was quick to conclude that the BPO sector is poised to benefit from the global recession.

This has prompted both the administration and the vanguards of globalization to brand the BPO sector as the “sunshine industry.”

But there is a need, Mr. Speaker, to bust the myth surrounding the so-called sunshine industry. For behind the seemingly innocuous statistics and improving figures lie tales of exploitation, false hopes, and dim working conditions inside the call center.

Read the rest of this entry »