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U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act Introduced with Bi-Partisan Support

December 07, 2011

Who says Washington, D.C. is not listening?

After years of frustration by U.S. workers about the shipping of call center jobs out of the country and a storm of consumer complaints about dealing with customer service people who do not have the language skills, product knowledge and training and/or cultural sensitivity to resolve their problems, a bill to address the hostility generated by “Off-shoring” has turned into legislation in the form of “U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act.” 


The bill was introduced December 7, in a rare showing of bi-partisanship, byCongressmenTim Bishop (D- New York) and Dave McKinley (R-West Virginia). It got very strong endorsement from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the union that represents 700,000 telecom and customer service workers around the U.S. which includes 150,000 call center employees, who hosted a call where Congressman Bishop briefed the media about his legislation.  

The bill does the following:

  • Requires the U.S. Department of Labor to catalogue firms moving call center jobs overseas, thus making them ineligible for any direct or indirect federal loans or loan guarantees for five years.
  • Requires the list of companies that off-shore call center work to be made available to the public.
  • Requires notification to Secretary of Labor 120 days in advance of a proposed move off-shore.
  • Requires call center employees to disclose their location to U.S. consumers
  • Requires that call centers transfer consumers to a call center in the U.S. upon request.

Congressman Bishop noted in the CWA press release that accompanied the media call that: “It’s common sense that we should not be rewarding companies that ship jobs overseas while millions of qualified Americans are looking for work,” Congressman Bishop said. “Taxpayer dollars should only be used to incentivize good corporate citizens who create American jobs.”

Rep. McKinley added his support; “This is a common sense jobs bill that will protect American workers and consumers,” Rep. McKinley said. “Our taxpayers should not be financing those who send our jobs overseas.”

 Ron Collins, CWA chief of staff, who was joined on the call by Mike Gendron, CWA Local 1108, Verizon, (Patchogue, NY) and  Vonda Hardy, CWA Local 3640, US Airways (Winston-Salem, NC), stated: “Americans are fed up with good-paying family supporting call center jobs here in the United States being shipped overseas so the one percent can make a little extra money...This legislation does not prevent them from moving if they want, but it prevents them from gaining access to our tax dollars while they do so.”

On the call, Collins also took the opportunity to preview new research by CWA that spotlights the threat of consumer fraud and identity theft at foreign call centers which will be released in a few days, by saying the customer call and ID information is handle much more securely, and the overall customer experience is much better when customers deal with US-based agents.

The bill is prospective, meaning it does not apply to companies that have already well-established call centers outside the U.S.  Stating that off-shoring is, “one of the scourges of our economy” and that the current 4.7 million U.S.-based call center agents represents a drop of 500,000 in just the past few years, Congressman Bishop in answer to a question stated that he expected bi-partisan support. “Withholding of grants will have broad appeal and it is hard to defend the practice,” he said in reference to shipping jobs overseas.

The CWA representatives spoke of their experiences where customers who have typically dealt with foreign-based agents have expressed delight in speaking with a U.S.-based agent. They also made a pitch about the need for the AT&T/T-Mobile deal to be approved based on a promise of bringing back 5000 jobs, a subject the Congressman Bishop did not address. 

The big hook here is not surprising. The prospect of the withholding of money to companies that going forward decide it is still in their interests to move agent jobs out of the U.S. is a big stick. Disclosure is one thing, and it will be nice if the bill passes to know where a call is being handled and having the option of having a call transferred to a U.S. agent, but as the old saying goes, “money talks!”

While the legislation is on its face, and its bi-partisan original sponsorship, it would seem to have clear sailing. However, this is a political year and in the past lobbying groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have railed against any government actions to deny businesses from making decisions that they feel are in their best interests, including whom they can employ and where. 

If nothing else, taking the pulse of the lawmakers on this is going to be exciting. Whether it makes to a vote, or becomes a political football remains to be seen.    


Peter Bernstein is a technology industry veteran, having worked in multiple capacities with several of the industry's biggest brands, including Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent, Telcordia, HP, Siemens, Nortel, France Telecom, and others, and having served on the Advisory Boards of 15 technology startups. To read more of Peter's work, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jamie Epstein



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