Gov’t alerted to US bill’s effect on Philippines’ booming BPO

4:48 am | Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz

The government is assessing the impact of a proposed law in the United States that would discourage US firms from outsourcing their operations, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Wednesday.

Baldoz said she would ask Labor Attaché Luzviminda Padilla in Washington to assess the impact of the Call Center and Consumers Protection bill that might have severe repercussions on the country’s booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

“If there’s going to be a slowdown then of course that would affect us because there are many US outsourcing companies here in the Philippines,” she said.

The country’s BPO industry employs around half a million Filipinos, according to the labor secretary. The Philippines overtook India last year, becoming the world’s biggest provider of call center agents.

“I will have to check. It is still not a law. I will ask the labor attaché in Washington to give me a briefing on this bill and possible impact assessment on our outsourcing companies here,” she added.

Penalties on US firms

Baldoz said that she would ask Padilla to monitor the progress of the bill in the US House of Representatives.

The proposed legislation, US House Bill No. 3596, seeks to require call center operators who answer calls to identify their location, giving US callers the option of choosing a local operator.

The measure also seeks to penalize US companies $10,000 a day if they fail to report their relocation to the US Department of Labor within 60 days.

American companies will also be required to inform the US labor department 120 days in advance regarding their plans to transfer operations elsewhere.

The bill also seeks to ban American call centers operating outside the United States from seeking federal grants and loans for five years.

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Tags: BPO , business , Philippines , US

Anonymous

what will happen to the will be displaced workers? once become a law, the workers will not be the only affected but the investors who entailed buildings for the outsourcing industry. laking epekto nito sa economy

Anonymous

Call center agents should consider migrating to Canada or Australia and use their experiences, or they should start looking for alternative jobs. It is just a matter of time and most of the call centers will close. It was more like temp agency.

Antonio Efondo

Instead of the taking action to negate such law in the US, the government should think of “alternatives or incentives” to offer to BPOs that are operating in the Philippines…

Anonymous

I agree.

Anonymous

Industrialization ang kailangan ng pinas para magkatrabaho ang mga pinoy, the govt should promote local industries for local consumption. Lahat nalang satin imported ultimong kutsara made in china. Tulad ng proposed bill na ito we should protect our own local industries to generate more local Jobs.
Fossil William

When these companies moved to the Philippines (outsourcing) madami din ang nawalan ng trabaho sa USA or Canada. So, I think, they are realizing it now to keep it within their country……………. But more SM malls are opening so the call centre agents can apply there :-)
Anonymous

No—American CAN NOT compete on CHEAP and COMPETITIVE workers from Philippines–
First american salary are 10 times as pilipino workers EARN on same JOD description—
American company WILL go BANKRUPT if they choose to BRING Outsourcing JOB back to US
Fossil William

They didn’t go BANKRUPT before……. USA will decide and it is RP that have to wait..
Anonymous

With the economy of US dwindling, we should expect this. I believe that what we have to do is to review our strategies. I think that since we already have a bit of the infrastructure, I just think that we might look at the opportunity in opening up call centres that will cater to local industries and other countries. i think that there is an opportunity here. We should not just wait for US to decide our fate, we should be proactive in our strategy. Waiting is a strategy to be slaughtered. As they said “If a door closes, a window opens”.

Anonymous

Let’s expect the worst. Call Centers will be gone from the Philippines by next year or so either because the US firms will have relocated to the States or these firms close and declare bankruptcy altogether. With the harsh punitive measures being imposed by the US government, these companies will have little choice over which decision to choose: continue operating overseas and be punished or denied of privileges, or relocate to the states and face imminent bankruptcy, if Americans wouldn’t accept Filipino-grade (or third world-grade) salary.

It is now the perfect time that we can see first hand and when we can truly realize how stupid our elected/appointed officials really are. They do not have any plans or countermeasures to offset or recover lost employment. What they do is “monitor” the development of the bill and hope that it doesn’t push through. They sip a cup of coffee, lay back on their comfortable chair, and stare at nothingness while people who are about to lose their jobs could barely get a minute sleep.

They would not even do the “monitoring” themselves. Instead, they are delegating some persons to do their jobs.

In the period since Baldoz was appointed to the post, she has not done anything useful to help spur employment. I could lose my sanity thinking about what it is that she really does.

With her ugly and villain-like face, I could only surmise that her abilities are just about the same.

This country is going straight down the drain, which just makes me want to blow my brains off.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OA3GZEWFB7K55ANOIDRDNMWS2A Josefino

Let’s just hope that they kick out these Democrats from the White House next year. They are the main contributors to America’s steady moral, social and economic decline. (Nanggagalaiti na naman mga hilaw na Dems nito.)

Gov’t alerted to US bill’s effect on Philippines’ booming BPO

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