Protect and uphold BPO worker rights

According to Palatino, the new proposal for a BPO Workers Welfare & Protection Act still has all the provisions upholding the rights and benefits that were contained in the previous bill. Among such rights are the right to organize and establish formations and unions and to assert the right due process in administrative proceedings.

The proposal takes BPO companies to the task of providing its employees access to relevant information to make them understand their rights, benefits, obligations, conditions and realities attending to their profession. In Section 5 of the bill, BPO companies are prohibited from restraining their employees from organizing or attending activities including workshops and symposia that seek to inform them of their rights.

The measure also addresses the issue of the phenomenon of understaffing or overloading. Section 6 prohibits both, stating that the ratio of BPO worker to client quota or quantitative targets should be as such that quality service is maintained but not through overworking employees.

The management may request employees to work beyond what’s stipulated in their contract, but employees must first give their consent and they should be compensated with additional pay of not less than 25 percent of the regular rate per hour.

Another bane of BPO workers is being done away with the proposal’s Section 10. Here, it is stated that companies cannot compel its employees to commit to a company bond, or impose on them exorbitant fees should they leave the company before a specified length of time. And in the case of money claims, Section 11 of the bill states that BPO firms cannot prevent their employees from receiving their rightful money claims arising from labor disputes.

The bill proposes regular work hours for BPO workers, meaning not exceeding eight hours a day. If required to work overtime, employees must be paid with an additional compensation equivalent to the regular wage plus 25 percent.

No to self-regulation in the BPO industry

According to the October 2010 Annual Report of IBM Global Business Services, the Philippines has overtaken India in the BPO industry. India held the title for several years until the Philippines took the lead after registering more than 15, 000 estimated jobs in business support services. India has less than 14, 000. The United States remains at third rank with 6, 000 estimated jobs, but ranks first as source of investment.

Instead of pushing for protection of the employees in the growing industry, however, the Aquino government has stated that self-regulation is the way. Labor Secretary Rosalindo Baldoz stated the policy in a meeting last December 2010 with leaders of the business process outsourcing industry.

Based on reports, the Davao information and communication technology-BPO industry was the first in the country to adopt a voluntary code of good practices. The code aims to lessen if not completely remove government involvement in addressing industry-specific issues. As per the Davao code, BPO companies are said to commit to promote good practices on a voluntary basis; and use the industry tripartite council to address labor and employment, economic, and social issues in the industry.

The Ecumenical Institute for Labor and Education and Research (EILER ) has already warned that the country might become a “modern-day sweatshop for the services sector” if reforms in the BPO industry are not implemented.

Eiler executive director Anna Leah-Escresa Colina said foreign outsourcing firms are being emboldened to preserve g dismal working conditions in BPO hubs and implement worse forms of labor exploitation.

“If the government itself cannot protect BPO workers from dismal labor conditions and uphold workers’ rights in BPOs, how can we expect foreign firms to do so under self-regulation? Self-regulation will lead to stricter regulation of BPO workers’ activities and worse abuse of workers’ rights. The DOLE is giving BPO firms free reign , allowing them to do whatever they want to do with Filipino workers.”

According to Escresa, BPO firms are currently “centers of contractualization and irregular work” as it has 208,316 non-regular workers, or close to one-third of the total 731,548 non-regular workers in all industries. Non-regular workers include contractual, casual, seasonal, apprentice and probationary workers.

She also said that there are no unions in the local outsourcing industry,never mind that it employs around 600,000 voice and non-voice BPO workers.

“Rather than pushing for self-regulation in the BPO industry, what DOLE should do is to promote the rights of BPO workers inside the workplace. Supporting the House Bill 2592 would be a good step forward,” she said.

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