THE fate of more than 5,000 employees of West Contact Services Inc. (WCSI) in the Philippines hangs in the balance with the company’s decision to sell its shares and contract to Alorica.
The transaction will be one of the biggest acquisitions in the business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines.
The BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN Philippines) issued a statement appealing for WCSI to recognize and uphold the security of tenure of its employees.
“The employees of West Contact Services Inc. are uncertain of how the acquisition will impact their employment since the management has failed to divulge in complete transparency the reason for the buyout. West Contact Services Inc. attempted to hold a town-hall meeting on February 18, 2015; however, only a handful of employees were able to attend and many questions remain unanswered, adding more confusion rather than clarifying issues on tenure and benefits,” the statement said.
Mergers and acquisitions have been a practice in the BPO industry instead of filing bankruptcy.
The group said that under Republic Act 7042, or the Foreign Investment Act, foreign-direct investments are entitled for a maximum of eight years of income-tax holiday as part of the government’s packaging to lure in investors. BPO companies enjoy the same benefit; however, most fail to extend greater benefits to their employees, the BIEN statement said.
BIEN said the standard entry-level basic pay has gone down from P20,000 to P25,000 in the early 2000s to a meager P12,000 to P15,000 in 2014 in Metro Manila. Basic pay in the provinces considered as BPO hubs, such as Clark, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo and Davao have lower entry-level pay ranging from P6,000 to P8,000.
“Despite the stellar service level and quality that Filipinos provide, cheap labor remains a standard practice in the BPO industry,” the group said.
The group noted that previous acquisitions in the BPO industry such as that of Convergys and Stream; IBM and Concentrix; SPI global and ePLDT Ventus, led to termination, putting employees on floating status, diminution of benefits, and other alleged violations of the labor code.
Ironically, BIEN said that such mergers and acquisitions failed to get the attention of the government as it allows BPO companies to self-regulate and follow industry standards.
BIEN Philippines is strongly calling WCSI to listen to the demands of its employees and show more compassion in treating them as this will impact greatly the economic survival of their families. BPO employees stand mostly as breadwinners and even help the entire economy.
The BPO industry has registered a total revenue of $15 billion in 2014, second to the remittances of overseas Filipino workers.
1 comment
Am so sad….. Good Thing am no longer with BPO industry..