Saturday, January 12, 2008 Nalzaro: Layoffs of employees in call center, 2 By Bobby Nalzaro Saksi
I DID not expect that the article I wrote two weeks ago about the termination of the services of employees in Western Wats, an American call center based at the Mactan Export Processing Zone (Mepz) 2 in Lapu-Lapu City, would trigger reactions.
Some of them criticized the decision of management, calling it inhuman because it was done during the Christmas holidays. Others defended the decision, saying the laid off employees were ineffective.
Mike Cohen, a US-based journalist, even emailed me asking if the termination had something to do with the coming US presidential elections. I don't think so.
Until now, however, there has been no official word from the company's higher ups as to the real reason behind the layoffs. The services of hundreds of employees were terminated before Christmas and more workers are expected to be retrenched.
The firm’s US-based officials, including its new president, were here over the weekend but they refused to issue a statement. Sources said Western Wats, whose main headquarters is in Orem, Utah, was sold recently to another company, its third owner since it began operating in early 2000.
Western Wats Philippines started its operation in 2003 with 300 employees. For the past years, it was doing well, employing some 1,700 employees. The questionable acts happened only last year.
The services of new recruits, trained for as short as two weeks, were being terminated. Some of them were from Mindanao and other parts of the Visayas, all carrying the hope of ending up having a good paying job after relocating to Cebu.
The employment contract of probationary employees specified that they will be evaluated after a month of training and then five months later to determine if they will be hired as regular employees. But most of them were laid off within two months.
Last November, the company reduced the number of teams by moving some employees to other teams and terminating the services of others for no apparent reason.
Some supervisors were demoted to the status of agents for lack of teams to handle. Others were told they were ineffective. This caused demoralization among the supervisors' rank, prompting some of them to resign.
Mass termination followed last December. The company said this was because of gross inefficiency. But an insider said there has never been a written standard when it comes to production that can be used as ground for termination. And even if there was, the employees should have been given due process before their services were terminated, especially the regular ones.
What was insulting was that the employees were just verbally told about the termination when they reported for work. No official memorandum was issued about any violation they committed. Worse, there was no mention about separation pay or whatever benefits that can be claimed upon termination. That is why some dismissed employees went to the National Labor Relations Commission.
Though Western Wats is an American firm, its management should follow our labor laws. There are rules to be followed in terminating employees but company officials, some of whom are Filipinos, refused to follow them. They dropped their kababayans like hot potatoes. This is oppression.
P.S. Michelle Yu, who sympathize with the dismissed employees, is encouraging them to email her at recruitment. ekyle@gmail.com (bgnalzaro@gmanetwork.com)
