Dole to consult BPOs on biz plans

BUSINESS Process Outsourcing (BPO) workers could be trained for employment in the service industry like hotels, restaurants and tourism-related establishments or in merchandising and trading services if and when a proposal banning American countries from setting up call centers abroad would indeed be passed into law.

“They (BPO workers) could also be encouraged to start their own business in small and medium-scale enterprises so they will become young entrepreneurs themselves," Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said Wednesday, reacting to claims that the proposal would greatly affect the flourishing business process outsourcing sector.

House Resolution 3696 or “The United States Call Center Worker and Protection Act” introduced by Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) last December 7, 2011 has been referred to the US House Committees on Energy and Commerce, Oversight and Government Reform, Armed Services, and Education and the Workforce.

“The pending US legislative measure banning American companies from setting up call centers abroad, including the Philippines, has yet to be passed into law,” Baldoz said in a statement furnished Sun.Star. “Like other bills of similar subjects in the past, it has been referred to four different US House committees for review.”

She added that while it is too soon to predict the outcome of the measure, “it is possible that business will lobby against it just like in the past since it will put them out of competition and global trade."

Nonetheless, DOLE is vigilant and ready to implement several measures to mitigate the impact of the legislative proposal if and when it is passed into law, Baldoz said.

“We are vigilant and we will immediately consult our partners and stakeholders in the BPO sector on their business plans so that we can prepare in advance alternative employment opportunities for our workers, just in case," she stressed. (CGC)