Research on Transport-Related Call Centres in the Philippines

Transcription

1 Research on Transport-Related Call Centres in the Philippines June 2008 Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER) and International Transport Workers Federation (ITF)

2 INTRODUCTION BPO and the contact centre industry in the Philippines The exigencies of globalization as an economic model have accelerated global outsourcing among multinational companies eager to cut costs on service-related business processes. In turn, business-process outsourcing (BPO) has been vigorously promoted by governments in underdeveloped receiving countries as a way to reduce high rates of unemployment in the local job market, evolving into a virtual panacea for economic downturns. BPO encompasses a broad array of third-party services that include information technology, business administration, sales, marketing, and customer care. In terms of job market requisites, the industry may be roughly categorized into low-end and high-end, with the former referring to relatively low-skilled business processes such as contact centres and data transcription; and the latter referring to business processes requiring more specialized skills such as software, engineering and IT development. That companies in developed countries benefit immensely from this arrangement is an incontrovertible fact. By tapping the stream of highly-skilled but low-value labour in poorer economies for BPO, foreign contracting firms gain estimated net savings of 20-40% on labor costs. Not surprisingly, global revenues in this sector have grown steadily from $44.9 billion in year 2000 to $67 billion by Among receiving countries, India leads by capturing about 46% of the global job market for BPO, with emphasis on the IT and engineering industry's high-end. While the Philippines is also on a competitive footing, it is handicapped by the government s lopsided focus on the contact center sector, which in 2005 generated 75% of the total revenues in the local BPO industry and provided 68.6% of its total employment. On the other hand, only 13% of the Philippine BPO revenues for the same year were from software and IT services, compared to India s 70%. BPO only gained ground in the Philippines in the early part of the new millennium, although outsourcing in other parts of the globe began as early as the 1990s. From Php 2 billion in 2000, investment in the Philippine BPO industry rose to Php 11 billion in 2001, then settled to about Php 5 7 billion annually in the next four years. While BPO in the Philippines are of seven (7) categories (contact centre, back office, data transcription, animation, software development, engineering development and digital content), investments and government support has been heaviest in the contact centre sector (also called call centres). Investments in contact centres in amounted to nearly P5 billion annually, and between January and August 2006, contact centre investments already amounted to around P3 billion. Comparatively, the influx of 2

3 investments in software development eased from about P4.3 billion annually in to P800 million during Industry analysts are quick to make optimistic projections on the contact centre sector s potential for the Philippine economy, especially in terms of job generation. From 112,000 employees in 2005, the BPA/P (Business Process Association, Philippines) targeted a direct employment close to 1 million by the end of 2010 by cornering 10% of the global outsourcing and offshoring market in itsbpo roadmap. Such a significant and rapidly growing sector of Philippine economy and its workforce cannot but come under the scrutiny of labour advocates sooner or later. While few, if any, primary researches on the micro-impact of contact centres on its workers have been conducted in the Philippines to date, generalized perceptions on employment standards and working conditions within the industry have not been very positive, and stories of falling wages rates, contractualisation, virtually union-free, and life-threatening occupational hazards abound among contact centre workers. This research aims to achieve three main objectives. One is to map the different transport-related call centre companies in the Philippines. It focused on call centre companies servicing the airline, railway, bus, cruiseship/ ferry industry and logistics and goods transport industries. Second objective is to identify working conditions of transport-related call centre workers. And lastly, is to determine the status of unionisation on the sector and formulate recommendations for union organising among transportrelated call centre workers. While the target respondents are from transport-related contact centres, it is expected that the conclusions and recommendations put forward by this research paper will not greatly vary with and may be applied similarly to those outside this particular sub sector of the call centre industry. Methodology The study made use of both primary and secondary data sources. For the primary sources, a number of 216 respondents were gathered from 10 call centre companies and 16 call centre sites with transport-related accounts. Some of the respondents refuse to answer some points, insisting on anonymity. Others withheld information because they believed it would be tantamount to violating their non-disclosure contract with the company. Almost half of these respondents were engaged through direct interviews and group discussions. Key informant interviews and survey instruments were used to gather data from the call centre agents or customer service representatives themselves. Key informants were reached through contacts and networks from communities, colleges and universities and local organizations. But majority of the respondents were impromptu interviews outside their workplace in parking lots, cafes, bars, canteens and smoking 3

4 areas. For some of the sites, the researchers had to resort to more creative ways to connect to the call centre agents by pretending to be applicants to the companies. Also, some of the respondents volunteered to disseminate and collect some of the survey forms to their colleagues. Other primary data were culled from attendance to call centre seminars and interviews of stakeholders from different unions. Online call centre fora were also useful in gathering information about companies and more importantly, about the attitudes of the call centre agents with regard to their work and organizing among themselves. Aside from fieldwork survey, a month-long online survey was also utilized targeting call centre agents who are internet habitués. A number of 62 respondents were gathered through this. Stakeholders from various unions especially the ITF-affiliates were also interviewed to be able to give an assessment of the efforts in organizing the industry. Guide questionnaires and survey instruments are annexed at the end of this report. There was a big effort to have a nationwide scope for the research. Thus, actual field research was conducted in the three major islands of the Philippines covering 16 sites of the selected 10 transport-related. The companies and sites visited in the National Capital Region (NCR), Rizal Province, Baguio City in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Cebu City in the Visayan Region, and Davao City in Mindanao. Here is the list of the sites visited: In Luzon: 1. Advanced Contact Solutions (Cubao and two sites in Makati City), 2. etelecare Global Solutions (in Eastwood City Cyberpark in Quezon City), 3. Stellar Global Solutions Philippines (in Cubao, Quezon City) 4. Convergys Philippines Service Corporation (in Commonwealth, Quezon City), 5. Teletech Customer Care Management Philippines, Inc (in Cainta, Rizal), 6. Sykes Asia, Inc. (in Gilmore Avenue, Quezon City), 7. PacificHub Corporation (in Ortigas Center, Pasig City) 8. Sitel Customer Care Philippines, Inc. (in Eastwood City Cyberpark, Quezon City 9. People Support (Pasig City) 10. IBM Daksh (Makati City and Mandaluyong City) 11. and Sitel Customer Care Philippines, Inc. (Baguio City) In the Visayas regions, 12. PeopleSupport (Cebu City), 13. Teletech Customer Care Management Philippines, Inc. (Cebu City) 4

5 In Mindanao island, 14. People Support, 15. etelecare, and 16. Sitel The sites visited in Mindanao have only recruitment centres. No call centre facilities of these companies were yet established in the city. These sample sites were taken from the initial mapping of call centre companies through secondary research. Selection of these sample sites was based on the total number of employment, registered net income, geographical location and existing contacts. 5

6 I. Mapping of Transport-related Call Centre Employers Internet researches have, as of January 2008, identified 211 call centre companies existing in the country 1. Out of these companies, 35 companies were identified as servicing transport-related clients globally and potentially servicing the same industry locally. However, due to limitation of time for the research duration, field research study did not cover all the 35 transport-related call centre companies. Ten sample sites were selected for the conduct of the field research. Among the selected sample sites, six of these belonged to top 10 call centre companies 2. For the rest of the 25 other call centre companies identified to provide services to transport-related clients, only some of these companies disclose their clients in their official websites. Generally, there is no company exclusively catering to transport-related clients in the Philippines. Most companies have various accounts or clients of different nature. Company profiles were retrieved from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), from the internet and from the respondents as well. Most of the accounts/clients gathered were taken from direct fieldwork. Although, majority of the respondents were adamant in relaying the companies clients also as their employment contracts stipulated nondisclosure agreements. Below are the lists of transport-related call centre companies and their profiles. Profiles of Fieldwork Sites Company Ownership Sites Clients 1. Advanced Paxys, Inc. Contact (Canada) Solutions Seats: 7, Citibank Building, Makati City 2. Asian Plaza Building, Makati City 3. Allied Bank Building, Makati City 4. Light and Industrial Science Park, Cabuyao, Laguna 5. SM City, Lipa City, Batangas 6. Araneta Center, Quezon City US Airways, Spirit Airlines, ATA airlines, peach direct (luxury shopping), Universal American (healthcare), Vonage telecom, Direct V cable, car rentals, car rentals, Verizons, Bank of New york 2. E-Telecare Global Solutions, Inc. Total Workforce: 11, 400 etelecare Global Solutions, Inc., a public company (USA) 1. Asiatown IT Park, Brgy. Apas, Lahug Cebu City 2. Eastwood City Cyberpark Bagumbayan, Quezon City 3. PBCom Tower, Makati City 4. Shaw Blvd. cor EDSA Mandaluyong City 5. Northgate Cyberzone, Alabang, Muntinlupa City American express (Travellers cheque), RCI( bookings for travel), Sprint (telecom), Dell (text support), Singular (Celfone), 6

7 3. Stellar Global Solutions Philippines Total Workforce: 1, Convergys Philippines Services Corporation Total Workforce: 13,700 Paxys, Inc and Stellar Holdings, Inc. (USA) A wholly owned subsidiary of Convergys Customer Management Group, Inc. (Ohio, USA) Cubao, Quezon City 1. Asiatown IT Park, Cebu City 2. The Enterprise Center, Makati City 3. Sampaloc, Manila 4. Northgate Cyberzone Alabang, Muntinlupa City 5. Robinsons-Equitable Tower Ortigas Center, Pasig City 6. Don Mariano Marcos Avenue Batasan Hills Diliman, Quezon City Go America, Directory assistance General Motors, Sprint Nextel program, OM DTV, AT & T SBC, Bell South, Dell, 5. Teletech Customer Care Management Philippines, Inc. Total Workforce: 15, Sykes Asia, Inc. Total workforce: 10, PacificHub Corporation Total Workforce: 700 Teletech Holdings, Inc. (USA) A whollyowned subsidiary of Sykes Netherlands B.V. Ultimate parent: Sykes Enterprise, Inc. (USA) Antonio Evangelista, William Mclaughlin, Oscar Evangelista 1. Novaliches area of Quezon City 2. Cainta, Rizal 3. Lipa City in Batangas province, 4. Bacoor, Cavite 5. Bacolod City 6. Iloilo City 7. Pasay City 8. Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City 9. Dumaguete 10. Cebu City 1. Mabolo Cebu City 2. Corporate Tower Makati City 3. Makati-Robinsons Summit Makati City, Manila, 4. Pasig City, Manila 5. Gilmore Avenue, Quezon City.Ortigas Center, Pasig City United Airlines, HP, and Accenture, BellSouth Alltel, TransUnion, MSN Microsoft, MCI-CCS, Adobe, Qwest, Prudential account, roadside assistance Hotels.com, Globe 7

8 8. PeopleSupport (Philippines) Inc. Seats: 8, IBM Daksh Business Process Services Philippines, Inc. Total Workforce: 5,000 et.,al A wholly owned subsidiary of PeopleSupport, Inc. (California, USA) IBM Daksh Buss.Process Services PL Indian Haryana, India 1. Harrison Road, Baguio City 2. AsiaTown IT Park, Cebu City, Philippines 3. Ramon Magsaysay Ave. Davao City 4. Ayala Avenue Makati City 1. Eastwood City Libis Quezon City Philippines 2. PBCom Tower Ayala Avenue, Makati City 3. Edsa Central Pavillion Mandaluyong City 4. IARFA Building Sampaloc Manila 5. The Enterprise Center Makati City 6. Nissan Commonwealth Bldg. Commonwealth Avenue Quezon City Expedia, Orbitz, Earthlink cable US Airlines, Ebay 10. Sitel Customer Care Philippines, Inc. Total Workforce: 8,000 A wholly owned subsidiary of Sitel International LLC (USA) 1. Robinsons Pioneer - Cybergate Pioneer St. Mandaluyong City 2. Centerpoint Building Garnet Road cor. Julia Vargas Ortigas Center Pasig City 3. Eastwood City Libis Quezon City 4. Baguio Export Processing Zone, Baguio City Hawaian Airlines, AT & T, Virgin Blue Profile of other transport-related call centre employers Company Profile 1. 24/7 Customer Phils., Inc. Ownership: by 24/7 Customer.com (CA. USA) Location: Eastwood City CyberPark, Libis, Quezon City 2. Accallade International Ownership: Accallade International (Utah, USA) Clients: Sprint, Qwest, AT&T, Avaya, Wells Fargo, Fingerhut, Sears and Ford Location: Ortigas Business Center, Pasig City 8

9 3. Accesscall Solutions, Inc. Ownership: Jose Ong, Desiree Ong, Philip Lim, Suzanne Ang, Globus Asia Realty Holdings, Inc. Location: PearlBank Centre, Salcedo Village Makati City 4. Accenture Manila BPO Makati Ownership: Accenture Holdings, B.V (The Hague, Netherlands) Location: GT Tower International, Makati City Total Work Force = 15, Alorica Philippines, Inc. Ownership: Global Outsourcing Ventures Ltd (British virgin Islands) Alorica Asia LLC (CA) Location: Eastwood City Libis, Quezon City and Emerald Ave, Ortigas Center, Pasig City 6. APAC Customer Services, Inc. Ownership: APAC Customer Services, Inc. (USA) Location: Northgate Cyberzone, Alabang area, Muntinlupa City Total workforce: 4, eperformax Contact Centers Corp. Ownership: eperformax International, Inc. (USA) Location: BPI Buendia Center Makati City Total workforce: 2, GenPact Services Ownership: GenPAct Services LLC (USA) Location: Northgate Cyberzone, Muntinlupa City Total workforce: ICT Group Ownership: ICT Group (Pennsylvania, USA) Location: RCBC Tower, Makati City/ Unionbank Tower, Ortigas, Pasig City/RiverbanksCenter, Marikina City Total workforce: 9, Inovize Philippines Ownership: Inovize, Inc. (Oakland, California, USA) Location: Don Chino Roces St, Makati City 11. InventAsia Ltd. Ownership: Name is formerly MPP-Hongkong Limited (HK) Location: Orient Square Building, Ortigas Center, Pasig City 12. Logicall, Incorporated call Ownership:Logicall Services, Inc. (IL, USA) centre Location: Roces Avenue cor. Metropolitan Avenue Makati City 13. Maersk Global Services Ownership: AP Moller-Maersk Group (Denmark) Location: Corporate Plaza, Ortigas Center, Pasig City Workforce: Service: Maersk Line, Maersk Logistics and Safmarine 9

10 14. NCO Group Ownership: NCO Group (Pennnsylvania, USA) Location: Mother Ignacia Street, Quezon City 15. Transcom Asia Ownership: Nucomm International (Canada) Location: Ortigas Center, Pasig City Clients: AIG, Aventis, Citibank, Santander, IBM, Nordea, Optimal Telecom, Statline, TNT, Xeroz, Anticimex, Cigna, hotels.com, O2, Orange, redcats, SEB, Stena Line, Tele2Tango, Vodatel, ORSYP, Sterling.dk Seats: 1, Outsource2Philippines, Inc. Ownership: Franklin Holz et. al (American) Location: Ayala Avenue, Makati City 17. SPi Technologies Ownership: epldt Location: Sto.Nino, Paranaque City Total Workforce: 11, TELUS International Phils Ownership: Ambergris Solutions, Inc. (British Virgin Islands) Location: Ortigas Center, Pasig City 19. Touchpoint Teleservices Ownership: Touchpoint Location: Antipolo City, Rizal Clients: Overlook Resort, US Global Consultant, Transcription, Inc. Ameriphil NCLEX Review, East Asia Foundation, Sta. Lucia Healthcare, Total Med Corp., LVR Medical Clinic 20. Transnational Diversified Group, Inc. Ownership: a wholly owned subsidiary of Transnational Diversified Corp. (Filipino) Location: Delgado St., Port Manila Partners and principals: Nippon Yusen Kaisha or NYK Line (Japan), American Express (USA), Asiana Airlines (Korea), Vroon B.V. (Netherlands), Yusen Air & Sea Service (Japan), Crystal Cruises (USA), Malaysia Airlines (Malaysia), Virgin Atlantic (UK), Disney Cruise Line (USA), Hong Kong Disneyland (HK), eperformax Contact Centers (USA), PayPal (USA), Austrian Airlines (Austria), Etihad Crystal Cargo (UAE), Tokyo Senpaku Kaisha (Japan), Transcontainer Ltd. (Japan), Nippon Container Terminal (Japan), Uyeno Transtech Ltd. (Japan), Eurail (Europe), Minotel Hotels (Europe) 21. The Resource Group (TRG) Philippines, Inc. Ownership: TRG (Washington, DC, USA) Location: Ortigas, Pasig City 22. UniComm Global Solutions, Inc. Ownership: UniComm Global Solutions, Inc (Filipino-owned) Location: Ortigas Center, Pasig City 23. VisionQwest Resource Group, Ownership: VisionQwest Resource Group, Inc. (USA) Inc. Location: Salcedo St. Makati City 24. Xynet Communication Ownership: RL Group of Companies(Filipino-owned) Solutions, Inc. Location: Singian St. Makati 25: West Contact Services Ownership: West Corporation (USA) 10

11 Location: Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City Client: DHL, Yellow, II. The Transport-related Call Centre Workers Respondents to the survey are mostly female (51%), single (75%) and years of age (62%), and are college graduates (61%). Only 30% have dependents. According to the 2008 Asian Call Centre Benchmarking report, 59 percent of the 129,000 call centre seats were women workers, higher than that of male counterpart at 41%. 3 Fieldwork interviews also approximated gender breakdown in the workforce of each company visited as 60:40 or 70:30. Educated women workers are being drawn into the call centre industry because of the salary despite erratic work schedules and despite the dangers of night work, and notwithstanding the huge gaps that exist between education and the nature of the work. About 37% say that their educational background is not related to their work while 34% believe otherwise. About 29% are ambivalent. About 41% answered that they have been working at least 6 months in the company while 34% answered less than 6 months. The rest have been working in call centers for two to five years. Most of the respondents (at 63%) have never worked in a call centre before. Most of those interviewed, when asked why they chose such work, would reply that there is no other work available. It is the in job that pays relatively well. Despite this, the large number of entrants in the industry is also matched by a huge turnover. According to the Call Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), the turnover rate in the country is at 60 to 80 percent, the highest in the world. 4 Work organization Nature of tasks Most respondents in transport-related accounts were providing service through inbound calls (82%). Most of these agents provide inbound services to customers in need of travel-booking. In addition, they are required to ensure that the callers who make travel inquiries are convinced to choose their respective airlines or modes of transportation. 11

12 Aside from reservation and booking services, these workers are also conducting postpurchase inquiries and resolution regarding complaints on service, refund policies, and cancellation. They also assist in general site navigation, member enrolment assistance, special service request relating to air, car and hotel purchases, billing inquiries and disputed charges. Most of the accounts found through fieldwork are mostly US airline accounts (Hawaiian Airlines, US Airways, United Airlines, ATA Airlines and Spirit Airways), while the rest are Australian accounts (Virgin Blue). Call centre workers with accounts of online travel agencies such as Expedia, Orbitz and RCI also do the same work as reservations, booking and the whole works of travel products and services. Logistics services, meanwhile, include claim administration, security investigations, customer retention, billing management, integrated channel customer satisfaction survey services and others. On the other hand, the call centre workers of General Motor (GM) account under Convergys provide information regarding the particularities of the vehicles the customers acquired and geographical information and other location-related information on the major American states. Agents have to do on the spot researches to provide the information needed by their customers. In the event that an agent is not able to provide the needed information within the average handling time, it will be his/her responsibility to call the customer as soon as he/she has done sufficient research. In cases like this, the agents do not only provide inbound but also outbound service. Other companies such as Sykes, which have electronic dispatch over the internet, provide road assistance, through wide network of towing, locksmith and emergency service providers. Management System Most call centre companies are organized by means of a work floor system. This is for the operations. Such a floor consists of hundreds of cubicles, each with a computer, telephone plunger and headset. This is the work station. The workers are organized by teams. Each team is composed of five to 10 agents. The team is handled by a supervisor or the team leader (TL). The regularization of each agent depends on the endorsement of the TL to the manager. The team is organized into a layer of support systems for more efficient call handling. Thus, frontline agents will resolve the basic inquiry and troubleshooting; the technical support department or group will handle those which cannot be resolved by the frontline agents; and the assistance of the senior support staff is also present 5. This senior support staff may be tenured agents or the team leader according to interviewed agents. 12

13 The team manager, on the other hand, handles about five to 10 team leaders. The operations manager handles three to five accounts. In some companies, the Mission Control (MC) determines when the agent may go on a break, have lunch or log off. They control the calls and the agents on avail (available). The supervisor has to ask the permission from MC to send agents on break, lunch, or log off. The Quality Assurance (QA) is more stringent. There is the in-house QA, there is the QA in the contracting countries (such as the US). The QA pays particular attention to the call flow. Working terms, conditions and social impact Salaries Salary ranges of respondents were mostly at Php 10,000-P15,000 (45%) and Php 15,000- P20,000 (36%). The others receive a salary range from Php 20,000-P40,000. A minority receives less than Php 10,000. There is discrepancy of wages between technical and nontechnical accounts 6 : average hiring rate are Php 12,500 Php 15,000 (for non-technical accounts) and Php 15,500- Php 18,000 (for technical accounts). According to interviewed agents, hired agents with no work experience yet receive at least Php 13,000 basic pay plus allowances (meal, transportation and communications) while those with experience receive basic pay depending on their length of stay in the previous company. They usually measure up to the previous payslip. Wages depend also on the skill level of the agent. There are additional premiums for those answering calls in any language other than English. The ongoing trend of call centre companies expanding and distributing its sites in cities outside of Metro Manila 7 also affects wages. Salary levels in the outlying regions are generally lower than those in the National Capital Region (NCR). According to fieldwork interviews, the basic pay in the province-based call centers have gone down to as little as Php 7,500 in Davao City and Php 8,000 in Baguio City compared to the Php 12,000-Php 15,000 in Metro Manila. Different companies are offering also different salary levels according to skills set. Bigger companies offer higher salaries and perks than the smaller companies. There is no reason to doubt that this policy shift will ultimately lead to a race to the bottom contact centers position themselves farther away from NCR. Call centre companies are also expanding and distributing across the country to maximize profits. In Davao, interviewed call centre agents are complaining about the meagreness of their pay. They are hoping that the government will have a policy for uniform salary across the region to protect the workers. Although there was no call centre facility that was found to have transport-related accounts in Davao, it is not farfetched that even transport-related accounts will be established in the region. 13

14 In Baguio, an interviewed non-tenured agent receives Php 300/day basic pay, transportation allowance (Php 620-P1,200), and rice allowance (Php 750). Tenured agents meanwhile receives Php 500/ day basic pay plus other allowances. Agents with college degrees receive much higher pay, sometimes at Php 15,000 a month. Agents in Cebu City receive relatively higher basic pay than either Baguio or rural Cebu and even comparable to those in the NCR, the lowest being at Php 12,000. Although there is an apparent decrease in salaries from the NCR to those in other regions, the general perception remains that call center work pays better than other type of work, and is certainly better than having no work at all amidst a high national unemployment rate. More than half of the respondents (62%) are still satisfied with their work while 21% are highly satisfied. More than half of the respondents (70%) feel that they are duly compensated for their work. About 20%, on the other hand, were ambivalent about their compensation while 10% feel that they are not duly compensated. *** Talent search Aside from lower costs, the company also benefits from the skills of English-speaking prospective agents. PeopleSupport, etelecare and Sitel already have their recruitment facilities in the different regions. They are hiring their agents for their Cebu and Metro Manila call centre facilities. That is why in Cebu, agents are also recruited from Leyte, Tacloban, Dumaguete, Cagayan de Oro and Davao. Most of them land their jobs through job fairs and recruitment offices in their respective provinces. In Baguio City where Sitel is the pioneering call center company which have two sites in the Baguio Export Processing Zone, its search for talents go as far afield as Sagada Province. There, they conduct trainings for future prospective agents. *** Work time, work schedules and overtime Majority of the respondents (74%) are working at five days a week. 5 by 40 most would say, meaning they work for 5 days and 40 hours a week which is the standard workweek. Generally, there are nine hours per shift two 15-minute breaks and an hour long break. Usually, this long break is called lunch by the agents regardless of morning or evening shifts. Standard shifts would be 8pm-5am, 9pm-6am, 10am-6pm and so on 14

15 and sometimes the schedule can be more erratic than this. But commonly, the shifts are categorized as day, mid and graveyard shifts. But some agents have a four-day workweek such as in Orbitz account in People Support in Cebu, City. They work for 11 hours, four days a week. Instead of having two rest days, they would have three. Working mothers prefer this as they would have uninterrupted days for their families. A 10-minute per day period is allowed for personal use (going to the restroom and others). This is difficult as cold temperature in the workplace is a condition for frequent trips to the restroom. This is also especially difficult for women, who generally need more time for personal hygiene. Schedules are released in advance by the Workforce Department which forecast the number of agents needed for a specific shift. This is confirmed by the survey where 69% of the respondents say their work schedules are flexible, and agents often describe this situation as crazy. The agents usually would have no control over their schedules. Women are left vulnerable with this abnormal schedule because most are forced to go to work even after midnight when hazards related to commuting is generally greater. One of the interviewed agent said that only when she complained about the after-midnight schedules did the human resource department reconsider. Weekends and holidays are included in the work schedules of 82% of the respondents. Quality time for the family is practically non-existent for married agents. They related that when they go home in the morning, they would already have missed sending off their children to school. An average handling time (AHT), the length of time that an agent resolves a call, depends on the account. An interviewed agent in car rental said standard AHT is 2 minutes and 20 seconds. AHTs are important in keeping up with the production time and queuing of calls. The aforementioned car rental account receives about 2,000 calls per day and an agent is expected to accomplish 100 calls per day during queuing. In Expedia account, an agent receives calls a day and her AHT is 8 minutes. In the United Airlines account of Teletech Cebu, the AHT is 6 minutes and an agent receives at least 60 to 70 calls a day. Failure in complying with the standard AHTs will result to low performance scores. Compulsory overtime (OT) or extended time (ET) is prevalent, according to 59% of the respondents. OT becomes the order of the day. ET is related to the goal of each team. For instance, for a week the goal would be 29,000 production minutes. If an agent is absent, all the other members of the team will be forced to render ET to offset the absences. In some cases, a protracted resolution of a call results in ET for the agents. Agents are also forced to render 6-day OT. The agent can refuse to submit to OT but she has to compensate for it the following week. If she refuses, she will receive a citation 15

16 Results of Online Survey Out of the 62 respondents, 87% are single, 90% of them are college graduates. Thirty-six percent have worked in the company for a year while 27% have been working for less than 6 months. Others have been working for two to five years. About 58% are first timers in call centre work. Fifty-seven percent of them receives a salary range of P15,000- P20,000 followed by P10,000-P15,000 range at 9%. Fourty-eight percent are providing inbound support while 27% are providing technical support. Majority, at 76%, are regulars. All of them are working on a five-day workweek. Eighty-six percent of them said that weekends and holidays are included in the work. Seventy percent are working on a flexible schedule and the rest are working on fixed terms. Seventy-seven percent are on graveyard shift followed by midshift at 13% and day shift at 10%. Fifty-seven percent said there is no mandated overtime. Medical insurance and sick/vacation leaves are in the top of the benefits list for with 49% each followed by transportation and meal allowance by 42%. Thirty-nine percent of the respondents have pay for performance. More than half, at 52%, said there is no termination/separation pay given when an account is closed by a client company. Although 89% believes contractuals can be regularized in their companies. Majority said that team building workloads as well as disciplinary actions are provided by the company. Workstress (21.4%), irrational behaviours of customers (18.6%), work time (15%), and basic pay(13%) are on the top lists of difficult areas. Seventy-nine percent of the respondents believe that in relation to call centre work problems, an association may help. But more than half, at 55% will let others do it then join later. As to the forms of actions that could protect call centre workers, dialogue with employers is at the top of the list, at 35% followed by media campaign at 20%, petition-signing (19%), work slowdown at 11%, Boycott of overtime is only at 8% and picket and street actions only at 5%. for incomplete staff time. This makes OTs extremely stressful, especially when rendered after a graveyard shift. Employment arrangement Sixty-eight percent of the respondents work as regulars, 19% are contractuals or projectbased, while the rest are in the category of probationary/trainee. Previous studies show that generally agents are regularized after fulfilling the probationary period of six months but by and large, employment contract is project-based or account-based. In a fieldwork site, an employment contract thus stipulates, appointment to the position of the customer service associate shall be on project-based status from the first day in production. Regularization to the post and promotion to a higher position shall be performance-based, subject existing policies and procedures 8. Upon hiring, agents have to undergo at least three to four weeks of training, which include soft skills training and product - specific training. The same abovementioned 16

17 contract also stipulates that there is no employee-employer relationship during this period. Only free meals are given during the soft skills training, and that during the products-specific training only a daily allowance ranging from Php 280- Php 650 per day is given. If an agent passes the training, a nesting will follow where the agent will practice with tenured agents as their mentors. If she does not pass the training, a remedial training will be given which will decide her termination or employment as probationary to the company. Training for travel-related accounts is reputedly more rigid than other accounts, requiring intensive memorization of airport codes, airlines, among other laborintensive tasks. Majority answered (90%) that contractual workers may be regularized in their companies. But for most companies, the probationary period is an extended one as evaluation of the agents is often delayed. Most of the interviewed agents expressed disappointment that it takes too long for the human resources department to evaluate their tenure for regularization. More than half (57%) think their job is secure and stable while 32% are ambivalent about it. Only 13% disagreed. Some of the interviewed agents expressed apprehensions on the US economic recession and the closing of their accounts. Sixty percent are going to keep their job while 6% think otherwise. Thirty-three percent are not sure if they will keep their jobs. Seventy-two percent believe they can be promoted while 24% are not sure. Only a fraction, at 7%, disagreed. Seasonal call centre agents are also hired during peak seasons when the highest volumes of calls are received. Aside from these, contractual workers are hired during special events when the volume of calls will also escalate. These are hired for two months and only a small percentage is usually absorbed in the regular workforce. Call centres, other than those included in the fieldwork sites, have starting hiring agency workers. Agency-hiring tends to peg the salaries of call centre workers even lower. Occupational health and safety Since working in call centers, the respondents reportedly have been experiencing the following ailments: - sleeping problems (59%), - eye strain (58%), - overall fatigue ( 49%), - headaches (53%), - chest and back pains (47%), - voice problems (39%), 17

18 - and mental stress (35%). These findings are consistent with a study by the Occupational Safety and Health Center of the Department of Labor and Employment identifying ergonomic risk and psychosocial stress factors triggering muscu-skeletal disorders affecting the upper back, neck and lower back, visual problems, voice and ear complaints and other health issues. 9 Chest and back pains are also common since agents are required to position themselves within the confines of their cubicles for prolonged periods. In addition, there are reported cases of urinary tract infection (UTI) because the agents have to finish a specific number of calls before they can go to the bathroom. Despite such high occupational health risks in call centers, clinical services are found to be wanting especially during graveyard shifts. A certain manager in Teletech in Cebu City that there have been an alarming number of cases of lung-related problems such as pneumonia. Many suffer nightly fever which is a common symptom of lung-related illness. The conditions of agents afflicted with such illnesses have worsened, since they are forced to continue to work on graveyard shifts. Several cases of laryngitis had also been accounted. Making the situation worse is the fact that the clinic of this Teletech site is not operating 24 hours and is not even open everyday. Generally, in pursuit of protecting the computers and other machines, call centers companies have to keep the temperature within the workplace unbearably low without considering the susceptibility to lung-related problem that their agents (who are much used to tropical climate of the country) might end up suffering because of constant exposure to such an unnatural environment. Other health hazards are workstress, worktime, and irrational behaviour of customers. Fifty-two percent of the respondents find work stress to be the most difficult in their work followed by irrational behaviour of customers and worktime. Only 8% have chosen job skill/mismatch as a cause for worry, while 67% expressed confidence that they can defend themselves from verbal abuse from irate customers, with 17% disagreeing. *** Mandatory overtime Forced overtime as a norm in call centre work is alarmingly high. One is either forced to extend his work time because of queuing or forced to take the six-day OT. This means that aside from the usual workdays, an agent has to forego vacation days to reach targets. In Advanced Contact Solutions (ACS) in Cubao, Quezon City, an agent was reported to have collapsed after working overtime. An account has it that the said agent was not feeling well and asked her supervisor to allow her to go home but the request was denied. 18

19 After working, she was about to go home when she collapsed at the lobby of the call centre facility. She was immediately brought to an intensive care unit. She is currently recuperating. Call centre managers say that such incidents are isolated. But just recently, ABS-CBN s TV Patrol World (a major network program) reported the death of a call centre agent named Dingdong Flores after he suffered hypertension while at work. He lapsed into coma before being taken to a hospital. Doctors said stress from irregular work schedules could have aggravated Flores hypertension and caused his death. *** Benefits About 82% of the respondents receive medical insurance, 75% receive pay for performance, followed by sick and vacation leaves at 74% and meal allowances at 58%. Work incentive schemes such as pay for performance, performance appraisal incentive or performance bonus are derived through performance metrics such as real time adherence, quality of work and AHT. Other incentives include commissions such as those in Expedia account, wherein a completed survey accomplished through an agent will give her additional Php 2,500. Sick/vacation leaves are much sought after because the agents have a difficult time securing one. An agent even lamented that even though they file vacation leaves in advance, these would not be easily allowed. Most of the time, companies merely insist on converting the leaves into cash. Grievances Fifty-five percent say that their company has a system to work out grievances while 36% are not sure. Meanwhile, 10% say that there's no system for grievances. Other companies have an Ethics Department - nominally detached from the company to handle delicate grievances as a third party. They also have employee-relations departments or labor-management councils (LMCs). Some forms of airing grievances devised by the management are the quarterly survey employee satisfaction surveys, focus group discussions, online company fora, and the open door policy that gives agents a direct channel to upper management. 19

20 In spite of all these, call center agents say management bodies are very slow in responding to their grievances. Disciplinary action All respondents to the survey agree that disciplinary actions (such as warning, suspension, dismissal) are being used by the company. Women call centre workers Although more and more women are being employed in the call centre industry, this does not translate to better working terms and conditions of employment. Woman s work is still connected to the increasing informalisation of labor and computer-aided exploitation 10. Working mothers Betsy (not her real name), 34 years old, works as a customer service associate at a call centre in Eastwood Cyber City. She studied abroad. Before entering the call centre industry, she worked as a researcher for the local food industry for eight years and resigned after having a baby. Her friend recommended her to etelecare and when she was contacted by the company s human resources department for work, she gave it a try because of the salary offering having a language premium. She thought it will be a just a transition job until she finds one with decent pay. She felt she was financially fulfilled. But the work is monotonous and stressful. Her average handling time should be 2 minutes and 65 seconds. There is no consideration with regards to work schedules for mothers. Thus, she also has to work in graveyard shifts. Everyday she has to take the long ride from Meycauyan, Bulacan where she resides to her work in Quezon City. She admitted that she has unlearned most of the academic knowledge she learned from her college education, making it very difficult for her to embark on her intended career. Without a choice, she said she will make call centre a career, answering calls for foreign customers. *** Pining (not her real name), 25 years old, has been working at a call center in Baguio City for a year now. She has a child and another is on the way. She is the primary breadwinner in the family as her husband is only working odd jobs as a carpenter. She worked as a nurse before in a private hospital in Pangasinan province but she is only taking home Php 5,000 a month. Because of this, she opted to work as a call center agent earning a basic salary of Php 10,000 excluding meals and transportation allowances. Being pregnant, she is allowed to only work day shifts in the call center. This is better than taking home Php 5,000 a month which does not suffice for my family. 20

21 She also said that she wants to pursue her nursing profession someday, Siguro sa abroad, mas malaki ang kita (Maybe abroad where the pay is better). *** Patty (not her real name), 23 years old, works in PeopleSupport in the Asiatown IT Park in Lahug, Cebu City. She is married and has two children. But her family is living in Negros province, a boat-ride away from Cebu City. She is living in a boarding house near the IT Park. She has been working for almost six months now at the call center, a probationary agent, adding that it has been difficult for her being away with her family. She can only go home at least once a month as the fare is expensive. And when she comes home, she can only stay for a night because she cannot be late or absent as disciplinary actions are strictly enforced. Securing vacation leaves are also difficult. She feels that she is not duly compensated for her work, having only a salary range of Php 10,000 to Php 15,000. But she cannot resign because of her two children, and resents the fact that with her work, she cannot afford to spend quality time with her family. 21

22 III. Unionisation of transport-related call centre companies They have no voice in a voice industry. - Towards an IR/HRD Agenda for the Call Center- BPO Industry, UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations Unionism is covertly and overtly discouraged, even forbidden, in the call centre industry. 11 During field interviews, a number of transport-related call centre workers, when asked about their views on forming a union in their company, directly answered that it is clearly stipulated in their contracts that they are not to form or join a union. Even in trainings given by management to newly hired call centre workers, discouragement of unionism is part of the course content. This is a clear violation of Philippine labor law where it is stated that every worker has the right to form and join a union. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) itself remains silent on unionism and industrial relations in call centre companies. 12 On the employers side, there are two differing opinions on the issue of unionism in the sector. The dominant side clearly opposes any attempt to build one. As stated by an American investor in a roundtable discussion, If there is a union, we will go. 13 Some employers, however, view it as a positive factor for the industry. They believe that unionizing the sector may address the industry s problem of high attrition rates, as unions will be attending to the needs and demands of the call centre workers and thus reduce the reasons for job hopping. 14 Among call centre workers, the same differing opinion can be seen. The relatively higher income received by call centre workers compared to the minimum wage earners of Php382 in the National Capital Region, is enough to compare them to professionals or managerial employees. Thus, they are made to believe that they are a class apart from the working population and see no reason for forming a union. 15 Most groups found through fieldwork sites only resemble interest clubs such as book reading, airsoft and others which is mostly pushed by the human resources department to answer the need for team building. About 85% of the respondents said that the company uses team building workloads. A considerable number of the survey respondents and focus-group discussion participants do not feel the need to form an organization. Among their reasons, the fact that forming a union is prohibited within call center companies (citing that this prohibition is written in their contract) stands out. Many of them think twice about 22

23 unionizing since they signed a contract and consider themselves duty-bound to follow each stipulated rule and regulation. Benjie, an agent in Sitel in Baguio City heatedly points out that if one has complaints about the system within her workplace, she might as well leave the company instead of pursuing with the complaints. The managers and team-leaders of different call centers with transport-related accounts expressed similar views. Rolly, a team-leader in Sykes said that the agents are always free to leave our company if she feels that her rights are being violated. Some of the agents said that they cannot see the viability of a workers organization because one has a choice to resign if he/she does not like the work. Most of them cannot specify the clause in their contracts that prohibits organizing in the workplace. Some agents said that if a union is organized in a call centre, it will counter the policy of call centres stipulated in the employment contract, it will undermine the authority of the labor-management council that is in place. One commented that an agent was given a choice to abide by the constitution or to abide by the employment contract. One said, however, that if unionization is pursued, it will threaten the bread and butter of the agent. Some said that, Sitel is a big company so it will be difficult to buck. On the other hand, majority of the respondents and focus group discussion participants feel the need to form an organization. Some are open-minded enough to realize the importance of organizations in helping the agents with their work problems. According to Rico, an agent in Teletech in Cebu City, the need to form an organization starts from the fact that the rights of the agents will be protected primarily by the agents themselves. There have been studies that show call centre workers are open to forming a union or some other type of organization. The studies which reveal the possibility of workplace organization 16 were confirmed in the survey as follows: A significant figure (78%) answered that an employees association may help in relation to call centre work problems. Transport-related call centre workers answered positively on survey question regarding their participation in employees association as shown: - take the lead (45%), - let others do it then join later (27%), - just leave it as it is (15%) However, they do not necessarily think that an employees union is the appropriate form. Some suggest that an organization that will cater to their demands as well as their interests will be more feasible. According to Jenny, a political activist during her 23

24 college days, since the majority of the call center agents comes from the middle class (usually not predisposed joining a union), it is necessary to plan the organization with sufficient consideration to the particular characteristics and inclinations of their class background. Which sites are organized There is yet no existing outsourced call centre union in the country. Only in-house call centre workers at Standard Chartered Bank were recorded to have a union. 17 It has been identified that high attrition rates and prevalence of flexible employment contracts in the call centre industry 18 as well as the yuppie culture 19 are factors contributing to difficulty in organizing call centre workers. Organized transport-related call centre workforce may be found in the Reservation and Ticketing Department of the Philippine Airlines (PAL). The 300 call centre workers there are all members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), an ITF affiliate, with total union members reaching 4,000. According to Linda Marcelo, Board Director of PALEA who works also in the said department, that since the establishment of their union in September 21, 1946, the call centre workers in the Reservation Department have been members of the union. Although not an outsourced call centre company, the issues and grievances they face are similar to the transport-related call centre workers in outsourced companies. Issues such as occupational health and safety, graveyard shifts, period of break times, security problems in the area, and income abound their everyday lives. Fortunately, the call centre workers in PAL have their union (PALEA) to defend their rights and issues inside the workplace, and unlike most transport-related call centre workers in an outsourced company, they enjoy various benefits and most importantly they have job security. Lately, there have been reports that the management is planning to transform the whole Reservation and Ticketing Department into administrative work. If this happens, 300 union members will be deprived of the bargaining power of their union. At present, the dominant tide continuous to be towards a non-unionized sector but the objective conditions being faced by the call centre workers inside their high-end factories coupled by the aggravating global and national economic crisis, the conditions are always fertile for building a union. In fact, field interviews have revealed that there have been some spontaneous and relatively organized, albeit minuscule, collective actions that have been carried out by call centre workers in response to their grievances inside the workplace. Collective actions Though there had not been any form of organization present in these call center companies with transport-related accounts prior to or while this research is being 24

25 conducted, there were cases wherein call center agents acted collectively to air out their grievances. Some good examples would be the experiences of the customer service representatives (CSRs) at the General Motors account in Convergys. Oya, one of the interviewees in the said account, told a story about a team-leader (TL) who did not attend to the needs of the agents under her. The agents would approach her to talk about their grievances with regards to the difficulty that they were experiencing in terms of handling irate customers, issues on salaries, workload and other work-related problems. The TL would continuously ignore them and instruct them to go about their work without complaining. A certain agent, according to Oya, initiated a petitionsigning in which an overwhelming majority of the agents participated. They presented their petition to the Human Resource Department that gave them a positive response. The mentioned TL was given a disciplinary action and as a concrete result of the collective effort at petition-signing, she was transferred to another site. Collective action also urged the management of Convergys to address several complaints on its medical insurance provider, Intelicare. As a rule, the insurance provided by Intelicare does not cover pre-existing [medical] condition that might persist as an agent works in the call center. Rose, who went to the hospital to have a check-up because of her painful sore-throat that she got from hours of talking to customers over the phone was told by her medical attendants that Intelicare refused to cover the services and hospital facilities because they classified her medical condition a pre-existing one. The agents collectively complained about the medical insurance provider. Many of the agents complain that their beneficiaries, mostly parents, could not avail of the medical services that they should get as their beneficiaries. Oya, who is one of the best call center agents and is handling the sale of premium brands of automobiles such as Chevrolet and Ford said that there was a point when she wanted to leave Convergys after experiencing Intelicare s mishandling of the medical concerns of the agents. As a solution, the abovementioned agents, along with other agents with similar grievances, maximized the on-line survey conducted by the company to collectively air out their grievance against Intelicare. It was an organized action by the agents because they talked about the plan before they collectively spoke through the on-line survey. The result was again concrete and in favor of the call center agents. The rules and regulations of Intelicare was reviewed by Convergys and the grievances of the agents were attended to. 25

26 In Teletech-Cebu, an agent recalled how a mass resignation occurred because of low pay and overwork under the Expedia travel account. In Advanced Contact Solutions in Makati, an interviewed call center agent recounted that agents in an account aired their grievances because of low basic salary amounting to only Php 10,000 (US$225.30). The agents threatened to resign en masse. The management responded with alacrity and increased their basic salary. An online correspondence Collective expression is also manifested in various online fora, and numerous blogs. Most busy online fora would have threads or discussions by call centre workers. For call centre workers, accessing the internet is inherent to their work and has become a natural part of their lives. The internet s accessibility to every call centre agent and the democratic space it gives provide practical venue for them to express their grievances, provide tips and even stories among members in each forum. Various topics are being tackled from quotas, irate customers, companies to work, to where the best coffee shop is located. Even unionism is openly discussed in some of the threads. Examples of such fora are the pinoyexchange.com and the pinoycallcenter.com. 26

27 Call center agents meet onlinebecause they cannot talk about it at work, the call center agents discussed a lot online. They discussed about how to combat stress especially with irate customers, the attrition rates, call center experiences and are even exchanging tips on the worst and the best company to apply for. They even talk about organizing unions. The following is taken from a call center forum ( Call Center Union? Anyone? By jerk I've noticed that call centers don't have unions? Reason is most call center managements say that with a union, clients may pull out of the center's contract or close down. But under the labor code, companies even private ones are NOT ALLOWED to disallow forming a UNION. Forming a union is one of our rights as filipinos for democracy in the country. Even if foreign companies invest in us for workforce and require certain regulations, they should not disallow us from forming a union, for a union can help protect the employee's interest. I am looking for a possibility of creating and forming a union, uniform for all call centers in the philippines. Post your ideas and perhaps message me to vouch your support! Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! (Long live the Philippines) By prometheuss Probably it's one of the factors why we still have a lot of foreign investors who wanted to have their call centers in the philippines. If we do this, long term effect is losing the call center industry here in the Philippines. By brownfox24 kaya mlkas loob magtangal ng managemnt kc wlng chek n blance dapt tlg thre are unions that protects us! (That is why the management is bold in retrenching us because there is no check and balance, there should be unions to protect us!) By pal_ku YES!!! A CALL CENTER UNION! COUNT ME IN!. 27

28 Unions guide call centre workers in forming organizations Labor centers, federations and unions can play a big role in the effort to unionize call centre workers. Efforts to form call centre workers into a union have been initiated by some labor centers such as the Trade Union Council of the Philippines (TUCP), the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), and the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), and the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU). The Association of Labor Union (ALU-TUCP), an ITF-affiliate, gained a headstart in organizing the call centre workers with efforts that started around five years ago. According to Mr. Gerard Seno, Vice President for Membership and Recruitment of ALU, the organizational work structure of call centre workers are very different. He said it is similar to the workers in the construction industry where the security of employment depends on the skills that they have. With this, ALU used the same organizing strategy that they used among workers in the construction industry, i.e. through skills training and formed a mutual aid association. This association was able to support the interests of the workers to a limited extent since they cannot represent the workers in collective bargaining. Regardless of this, the association was able to conduct site inspection and monitoring of labor standards and violations. With this organizing experience, ALU based its organizing strategy for the call centre workers. ALU began their organizing work with call centre workers thru skills training among prospective call centre agents at that time. They started training dependents of union members and hired call centre trainors from call centre companies who provided actual training for new call centre recruits. ALU decided to integrate union education to the curriculum for call centre workers, recruiting each graduate to be a member of the union. After the training they also assisted the workers in job facilitation. At that early stage, ALU believed that the best organizing model for call centre workers at that time would be an association. ALU initiated to register the Association of Call Center Employees of the Philippines (ACCEF), a mutual aid association with Mr. Seno as the founding president, but the Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR) disapproved it. According to the BLR, Mr. Seno cannot be a president of this association since he is not a call centre worker. At this point, TUCP took the lead on the trainings for call centre workers and is currently continuing this program in partnership with the government thru the TESDA-sponsored Free Call Center Training Program. TUCP continued integrating union education in the training curriculum. Up to now, they have a complete database of all their graduates who also became members of the union. Mr. Seno said that some members who graduated from their call centre training would still contact them to ask for advice related to their work. He said they do not pressure or agitate these members to build unions inside their workplace since they consider their job security. In their website, a section alloted for call centre workers issues is readily accessible for workers to post their grievances in and get possible support from the union. 28

29 At present ALU is part of an ILO-sponsored collaborative effort to organize call centre workers together with other labor federations such as Federation of Freedom Workers (FFW), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), and UNI. The forum was held last year wherein the different labor federations who participated were assigned actual call centre companies to organize. But according to Ms. Raquel Clavillas, an ALU organizer, the different federations were divided on the issue of organizing call centre workers into one umbrella association. This project is still on-going. Ms. Clavillas cited that the main difficulty in organizing call centre workers is their very tight work schedule. After their graveyard shift, workers rush to go home to get some sleep. At 11:00 in the evening they go back to their offices. There is actually no time to talk to them, she said. And when they get inside their work floors, they are not allowed to bring their cellphones or any ballpen and papers. Based on ALU s experience, efforts in organizing call centre workers in the traditional model of union organizing at this time will still be futile since the conditions are not yet ripe for union building. Workers are not yet aware of their rights, the industry is still not open for union, and the government is still protecting the industry. At present time, mutual aid association is the the best organizational model for call centre workers. It can cover membership from top to bottom (including Team Leaders, etc.), and it can represent call centre workers and push social contract as an alternative substitute for collective bargaining. Global Union affiliates such as the Union Network International (UNI) through its Philippine Liaison Office started their organizing in the call centre industry two years ago. According to Mr. Brother Umali, Secretary General of UNI Philippines, they are still at the initial stage of organizing the sector, i.e. mapping and surveying the various call centre companies nationwide. In Cebu City, the AMA-SUGBU, a regional affiliate of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) or May First Movement, is also on its initial stage of organizing the ICT hub in their area. The agents in a call center company in Cebu City are planning on forming employees association few weeks after the EILER s research team conducted a survey and facilitated focus-group discussions in the company. Nell (not his real name), who is initiating the forming of the association, said that he and his co-agents realized the timeliness and necessity of forming an organization within call center companies that would defend the interest of the agents. They have recently formed a core group which they hope will grow into an employees association. Nell now regularly contacts EILER to ask for comments and suggestions and is currently busy with establishing an online forum for Cebuano call center agents. 29

30 Unfortunately, according to Dr. Rene Ofreneo of UP Solair in his study on industrial relations and human resources development in the Call Centre-BPO Industry that overall, the unions in the Philippines have poor records of success in organizing and addressing the concerns of the Call Centre-BPO industry. He said that more imagination and new organizing experiments are needed to successfully organize the industry. 20 He believes that a global industry requires global work rules, and in this light he commends Union Network International s (UNI) work on propagating its UNI Charter on Offshore Outsourcing. IV. Analysis and recommendations 1. Employment and Social Issues Transport-related call centre workers experience the same employment issues as other call centre workers in the industry. Employment issues hound every call centre worker in his/her daily work routine. The occupational health risks from graveyard shifts, long working hours, period of break time, very cool temperatures in work areas, and high work stress due to high quota are very serious and potentially life-threatening. The industry already recognizes that these numerous OHS issues confronted by their workers is a strong factor why they need to improve the desirability of the job to attract new college graduates. That is why HRD and retention strategies are geared toward training their workers into fostering a healthy lifestyle. Studies have shown that graveyard shifts can increase the risk of cancer among women workers. 21 But call centre workers can do very little about these occupational health risks. For them getting a call centre job would mean having a relatively high compensation in exchange for their health. Organizing strategy in the call centre industry should maximize and bank on the major issues confronting call centre workers- their occupational health and safety issues. Lack of job security and flexible forms of work organization is also prevalent in the workplace. Although most companies regularize their employees after 6 months of probation or training period, flexible work arrangements are being used to squeeze profits from them. The team circle system is used to ensure high productivity among their workers. Being a regular worker does not ensure security of tenure, as the Team Leader or supervisor can easily impose disciplinary action and terminate an employee without due process. In an underdeveloped country like the Philippines, the wages that call centre workers receive are considered above average in most industry sectors. But with the intensifying economic crisis and soaring inflation rates, the purchasing power of their income is gradually being eroded with the family daily living wage reaching Php

31 (US$17.35) as of March 2008 according to National Wages and Productivity Commission. And based on wage comparisons between outsourced and nonoutsourced contact center work, Filipino call centre workers as part of the former may be considered highly exploited. Among core labour rights, the right to organize and form a union is the most violated right of for call centre workers. They also have to contend with unreasonably strict supervisors and stringent monitoring of work and activities. Working in a western time zone greatly affects their social and personal life. This has greatly reduced quality time with their families. Working mothers could not attend to the daily needs and provide guidance to their children. They cannot participate in family gatherings and special occassions since they do not have control over their work schedules. Deskilling has also becoming an emerging concern as hundreds of new professionals such as nurses, teachers, accountants and engineers engage in call center work, one that may not even be remotely related to their academic qualifications. 2. Benefits of trade union organizing for these workers The right to form a union is a basic democratic right for workers. Thus, there is no doubt that transport-related call centre workers need unions to protect their rights and welfare inside the workplace. Unions are the only workers organization that can collectively and legally represent and bargain with management. It is the only instrument of workers to ensure job security. Through a union transport-related call centre workers could collectively address the urgent issues and concerns that they are facing such as having a say on the labor process, improving working conditions inside the workplace, grievances, and disciplinary actions. Not even the best human resources development and retention strategies 22 could replace the role of unions in protecting the interests of transport-related call centre workers. With a unionized workforce, call centre workers can comprehensively advance their concerns on health and safety, career paths and development, skills development, their social life, savings for their future, and long-term occupation security. A unionized call centre industry can also be a contributing factor for stabilizing the industry and reducing the problem of high turnover rates 23. For the workers, a reduction of the high turnover rate would also be beneficial on their part since they do not have to resort to job-hopping and leaving their jobs whenever their needs and demands are not satisfied. This would spare them from the trouble of job displacement and job hunting. 31

32 Strategically, forming a union among call centre workers will serve as their valuable tool amidst the continuing attacks on wages and job security brought about by globalization. The global outsourcing industry is fully dependent on the demands from the outsourced country, and it is also very vulnerable to caprices of foreign capital. Foreign companies can easily cut and run and pull out their investments from the Philippines whenever there s cheaper labor cost and promise of higher profit in other developing countries. Only through the union can workers defend themselves from globalization s troubles. 3. Strategic analysis of the importance of union organizing in transport-related call centre workers to the Philippine union movement The BPO industry with Call Centre as its major subsector is the fastest growing industry in the Philippines today with 23% growth rate for 2008 and estimated 200,000 number of seats (j). By 2010, industry estimates 500,000 to 600,000 seats will be created. Contributing 11% of the jobs for the new labor force entrants, the government is bent on providing all the needs of the call centre companies. With an increasing number of total work force in the coming years and a bigger share of investments in the country s economy, it is for the strategic interest of the trade union movement in the Philippines that unions should gain foothold in the industry. Efforts in union organizing in the transport-related call centre workers will contribute to unionizing the whole call centre industry, if not the whole BPO industry. For the country s union movement, organizing transport-related call centre workers into unions is also an investment in the future of unionism in the Philippines. With most call centre workers belonging to the educated youth with ages ranging from 18 years of age to 30 years old, building unions among these age range would also mean training the next generation of unionists. Unionizing the transport-related call centre industry would also mean unionizing a majority of women workers. With 60:40 to 70:30 ratio of women to men in each call centre company, organizing a union means mobilizing mostly women workers and increasing their participation and capacity to lead. Women and other gender issues inside the workplace would be prioritized. Being part of the outsourcing industry and part of the global production chain, it is necessary for unions that will be formed among call centre workers to build organic linkages with unions from other parts of the global production chain, and with international unions and workers organization. This will directly benefit the whole Philippine union movement in building international solidarity and more active participation in global union actions. The continued dominance of globalization as an 32

33 economic paradigm necessitates unified international action to uphold and respect the core labor standards. 4. Recommendations for organizing The difficulties of organizing a union is aggravated in the case of organizing call centre workers by various factors- 1) high attrition rates, 2) prevalence of flexible employment contracts, and 3) yuppie culture. But survey results and field interviews show that majority are open in forming an organization but not exactly a union. Why is this so? Why is there an aversion among call centre agents with regards to unionism? The industry s almost outright prohibition of union among call centre workers is one main factor for this. Call centre workers fear losing their jobs if they get engage with union building. Field interview showed that for some companies it is clearly stipulated in the employment contracts that workers are prohibited to join or form unions. And so, in exchange for their jobs, they give up their union right. However, this no-union policy is not exclusively employed by the call centre industry. Other industries, such as industries found in the special economic zones, exploit the no-union policy throughout the Philippines. In fact, the government uses catchphrases like industrial peace to entice foreign investments. In spite of this, workers still strive to build unions in their workplaces. Thus, prohibition of union in call centre companies should not stop call centre workers in organizing their own union. Efforts in organizing transport-related call centre workers should also consider the following factors: 1) the class composition of the call centre workers in general belongs to the middle class. They are educated (mostly college level) and are receiving relatively higher income than minimum wage earners. They live relatively more comfortably compared to majority of workers who are either earning minimum or below minimum wage and who are struggling daily to make ends meet. 2) The peculiarities of their work and the work shift have created a different sub-culture ( yuppie culture ) among them. They are working while everyone is asleep and they need to master a foreign language. Atty. Joseph Entero, Vice-President of the International Seafarer s Action Center (ISAC), an ITF partner, believed that it is possible to organize call centre workers into a union. He cited graveyard schedule, work-related terms of condition, health-related issues, turn-over rate as the reasons why call center workers are likely to be organized. But because call center workers are usually from the middle class, he said that the organizing effort will face challenges. (But he noted the experiences of and successes in organizing bank employees who, like those in the call center industry, come from the middle class.) He stressed that it has to begin with awareness drive 33

34 since they [call center workers] are not really aware of their rights. He thought that a forum which will be attended by call center workers can work well as a jump-start. Multiple forms of workers organization Since previous efforts of national unions and federations have shown difficulties or impeded progress in organizing among call centre workers, other creative ways of organizing should be used in order to penetrate the industry. Multiple forms of workers organizations can be used in organizing. These will not replace a union but rather will pave the way for union organizing. They will serve as venues to lay down favourable conditions for union building. With these multiple forms of organizations, call centre workers can put into practice on how to build unity among them in addressing their common issues. Collective strength is gained along the way to building a union. Below are some recommended multiple forms of workers organizations that could gain more organizing mileage when applied judiciously and flexibly, and possibly also in combination: 1. Workers Associations Different types of workers association can be formed among call centre workers. Among them are as follows: i. Industry-wide Industry-wide associations can have membership of all call centre workers regardless to which call centre companies they are working. If successfully established, it could be at par with the various associations of call centre companies in the Philippines such as the CCAP and BPAP which plays an active role in pushing BPO companies interests in government policy-making. The industry-wide association, can represent the unified voice of call centre workers in the industry, upholding their interests and bringing their issues and demands. Common workplace issues such as quotas, overtime, workshift, etc., can be brought up by the industry-wide association to the different association of call centre companies and demand standardization of labor standards throughout the industry. ii. Account-based The accounts-based association maximizes the vulnerabilities of contact centre companies to client pressure, especially those that have contracts with big multinational corporations (MNCs) abroad. As an organizing method, employees from the same account may be formed into advocacy clusters, while simultaneously 34

35 trying to gain greater organizing leverage with the help of international corporate social responsibility (CSR) organizations. Transport-related call centre workers can be organized such as this. The only difficulty is the fact that one company holds multiple accounts. iii. Gender-based There is strong basis for gender-based organizing among call center workers, with at least 59% of them being women and gender-based problems being a prime workplace issue. Women s/gay rights organizations may conduct the initial organizing work, which may then be expanded to include labor rights to the extent that approximate the scope of comprehensive trade union concerns. Women s organizations can be easily set up in each site with an objective of addressing women s issues inside the workplace. iv. Geographical/ area-wide Regional-wide and city-wide associations among call centre workers may be formed. The practicality of proximity of sites is just one basis for this association. Various issues can be facing call centre workers in a particular area/ region or ICT hub. An example would be that differing wages in different regions. Security and other social issues can also be addressed to municipal governments with city-wide associations where they can even propose passing of municipal ordinances to address certain concerns. 2. Thematic approach/ OHS-based approach Occupational health and safety (OHS) issues rank high among contact center employees, with over 50% experiencing work-related illnesses and other hazards. An OHS service institution may be established that will cater specifically to contact center agents, a soft venue is created for initial organizing work among them, this can be later shifted to other core labor concerns as the timing and the situation merit. 3. Welfare support group/ Mutual-Help Associations Informal associations or clusters of employees may be formed based on the principle of collective, mutual aid may be formed or encouraged among contact center agents, at the beginning packaged innocuously as self-sustaining, small-credit groups ( paluwagan in Filipino culture). Follow-through organizing methods may then serve to consolidate their ranks to the point where conversion into a full-fledged trade union becomes a self-evident next step. 35

36 4. Online support group or forum The internet can be maximized for organizing. Very accessible and practical, call centre workers can meet and discuss work-related issues and concerns. With the nature of their work shifts, online community sites can provide as venue to share experiences, information and possible collective discussion on formulating solutions or actions. Online support group is also safe against prying of management on workers activities. 5. Clubs These are the type of organizations such as friendship club, or interest and hobby groups. The basis of the organization may not even be related to call centre work, and may be informal in form. As long as call centre workers are gathered together with common interest, it would eventually be beneficial to union building. These are the multiple expressions of workers organizations that may be formed along with forming a union. Recommended follow-through activities Upon completion of the research, EILER recommends the following activities for ITF as a follow-through of this study: 1) Holding of a Consultation/ Forum to share the research output among the initial transport-related call centre workers that served as contacts for this research, to be participated by other unions and labor institutions. The consultation will aim to discuss initial steps in organizing the sector. 2) Massive and comprehensive education campaign on workers rights and core labor standards among contact transport-related call centre workers. Education and raising awareness on workers rights and workers issues are key steps for the initial stage of organizing. Call centre workers will appreciate building their own organization and forming their own union in the future once they understand and appreciate its importance. 3) Construction of an online community website for call centre workers to serve as support for information needs and other work-related issues and concerns. As an alternative to the existing anarchic online forums, this community website will be organized to provide expert and legal advises on issues concerning labor relations and OHS issues and cater to other call centre workers needs. 4) A labor or health-related institution or center to support call centre workers for their OHS concerns should be in place and will continue doing research work on conditions of workers in the this industry. 36

37 Sources: 1. An Analysis of the Philippine Business Process Outsourcing Industry, ERD Working Paper Series No. 3, Asian Development Bank (ADB), March 2007, Philippines. 2. Understanding the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Industry in the Philippines, Factsheet No ES2-01, National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), November 09, 2007, Philippines. 3. Roadmap 2010 Update, by Oscar Sañez, BPA/P, September 24, 2007, Philippines. 4. Industry players ride on BPO popularity, by Liezl Ellen Antonio, Special Report, Business World, January 26, 2006, Philippines. 5. Towards an IR/HRD Agenda for Call Center-BPO Industry by Rene Ofreneo, UP SOLAIR. December Endnotes: 1 Although majority of these figures may only be categorized as "small- and medium-scale call centres (SMCCs) which operate with a capacity of 200 seats or less, and preferably at least 10 seats to ensure viability. 2 Top 10 call centres according to 3 Ibid Hega, Mylene. Assembly Line Workers of the 21 st Century: A Glimpse into the Lives of Customer Service Agents. CSWCD Development Journal, Ibid. 7 According to a study by Tholons, an investments advisory research company, As cost advantages of outsourcing operational processes become a given, the challenge in today s services sourcing landscape is to identify destinations that may be able to provide an equal (if not greater) level of cost effectiveness and operational efficiency than previous or existing locations. As such, the focus for many of the larger and best-of-breed providers has been to scale, expand and distribute their outsourced processes across multiple cities within a country. For example, companies need to identify calculated benefits of expanding to Cebu City in the Philippines, as opposed to simply expanding their already established operations in Manila NCR. This is culled from the seminar attended by the researcher, the 8 th e-services Philippines: Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition held on February 11-12, 2008 at the SMX Convention Centre in Manila. 8 From a copy of work contract gathered in fieldwork 9 From the Case Study on the Health, Safety and Working Conditions in a Contact Center, a study by the Occupational Safety and Health Center of the Department of Labor and Employment. 10 Hega. 37

38 11 Ofreneo, Rene. Towards an IR/HRD Agenda in Call Center-BPO Industry. UP SOLAIR. December ibid. 13 ibid. 14 ibid. 15 ibid. 16 A UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations study said that a majority of surveyed call centre workers were interested in joining unions. CCW respondents said they wanted better negotiating positions to compensate for the negative impact of night shifts and intense work pressure on their health. and they encountered heavy work pressure. 17 Although this is an in-house call centre and the union is integrated in the bank employees union. From call centres: Boon or Bane?, accessed in 18 Pico, Ermelo T. Employment in the Philippine Contact Center and BPO Industry. Philippine Journal of Labor and Industrial Relations, Vol. XXVI, Nos 1 & 2, Ofreneo A few call center companies have programs such as --refer-a-friend, recurrent training, OD training on work-life balance and stress management, coffee talks, HR@theLounge,town hall meeting, Friday treats, quarterly industry-wide and call-center wide salary survey, and monthly HR Forum. 23 Ofreneo. 38