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Subject: KMU slaps call center industry as “hub for exploitation Author: - [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 22:30:00 04/18/06 Tue This story was taken from www.inq7.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=71320 KMU slaps call center industry as “hub for exploitation” First posted 10:58pm (Mla time) April 02, 2006 By Alexander Villafania INQ7.net Even as the contact center industry continues to provide jobs to Filipinos, civil rights group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) is accusing the contact center industry of being a “hub for exploitation” and even went blamed the industry for stunting the country’s economic growth. KMU Spokesperson Prestoline Suyat said in a statement that Filipino contact center agents are paid much lower wages than their US counterparts, pointing to exploitation by multinational firms. He noted that entry-level workers have an average salary of 15,000 pesos while their US counterparts earn nearly 40,000 pesos per month. The Filipino contact center agent’s salary also falls short of the 19,950 pesos monthly living cost. "With the same amount of work, our call center workers are receiving a lot less. This cost-saving measure means greater profit for the business process outsourcing (BPO) like the call center industry but translates to greater exploitation for poor countries like the Philippines," Suyat said. KMU's attack on the contact center industry is not new since other groups have already condemned the industry. One of its critics is Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño, who argued last year during a Congressional hearing that contact centers are exploiting Filipino talents to suit US firms. Suyat said highly skilled Filipinos who graduated with degrees not related to the contact center industry are being encouraged by the government to work in dead-end jobs as contact center agents. "[President Gloria] Arroyo serves as a pimp to the best of the present and upcoming generation of Filipinos. Call centers do not contribute to industrializing the country and yet the president is wholesaling the best graduates of education, mathematics, or even engineers from best schools to be telephone operators," Suyat said. Suyat added: “President Arroyo gives false hopes to our countrymen while at the same time promoting anti-worker policies such as retrenchments which they call rationalization or streamlining of bureaucracy. How can middle-aged or retirable employees work in call centers when the industry work schedule means working during graveyard shifts? This is the main reason why there low blood levels are the norm for call center agents caused or aggravated by lack of sleep due to work schedules.” Suyat cited studies by the Quezon City-based Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research Inc. pointing to a decrease in output of local factories to 2.8 percent in January due to migration of skilled workers to contact centers, which is promoting globalization. The contact center industry currently has about 80,000 employed workers, making it one of the biggest industry sector employers in the country. It is also estimated to have earned close to 1 billion US dollars in 2005. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]