200 workers file plaint against call center firm

ABOUT 200 of more than 600 displaced workers of recently closed call center firm filed a complaint yesterday at the Department of Labor and Employment.

Dennis Derige, Partido ng Manggagawa spokesman, who accompanied the workers, said that the workers decided to file a complaint against Direct Access Corp. (DAC) after it shut down operations without giving workers a 30-day prior notice.

The workers cited the firm for illegal shutdown of operations, non payment of their salaries, incentives, allowance, commissions; and the non-remittance of their Social Security Service contributions.

The call center agents earned a monthly salary of P11,000 to P13,000, said NCMB director Edmund Mirasol.

Direct Access Corp., a call center at the Cebu IT Park, filed a notice of temporary closure/shutdown last July 31 for three to six months due to financial losses brought by high cost of operation, according to the Department of Labor and Employment.

Philip Zafra, chief of staff of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, offered his service as a lawyer to the displaced workers.

Cebu City Councilor Sisinio Andales said he would sponsor a resolution asking DOLE to investigate the alleged bankruptcy of the company.

He said part of the resolution would be to check on the stability of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms operating in Cebu City.

Six BPO firms which offered to absorb the workers set up express lanes for recruitment and screening.

These firms include Convergys, Sykes, Qualfon, Xlibris and Aegis.

Andales said that finding another BPO job in Cebu city is not difficult because of the many BPO firms already here and expanding.

The Partido ng Manggagawa called on the government to to strictly monitor and enforce labor standards in the business process outsourcing industry following DAC’s closure.

Renato Magtubo, PM national chairman, said President Aquino applauded the BPO industry in his third State of the Nation Address over a week ago “but behind this so-called sunrise industry lurks storm clouds that batter workers’ working conditions.”

He said that “within an industry, which prides itself with above-standard systems, are substandard practices that are common in other businesses.”

Magtubo said the labor department and other concerned agencies “cannot be complacent that all is well for workers in the BPO industry.”

PM said the displaced employees of DAC were left with unpaid wages, benefits and un-remitted social security contributions.

A scheduled teleconference yesterday between leaders of the Direct Access workers and the US-based owner was postponed.

Derige also explained that no agreement was reached as of Wednesday during a mediation called by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board, and a meeting with the Cebu tripartite industrial peace council.

“Direct Access workers welcome the offer of employment at other BPO companies even as they press for their demands with the different institutions that are intervening. They demand justice for workers, the payment of some 6.4 million pesos in wages and other emoluments, and the company’s culpability for violations of labor laws,” Derige said. /Correspondent Tweeny Malinao with Inquirer report