Legislation proposed by New York Representative Tim Bishop and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) would make companies that outsource call center work ineligible for federal grants and loans, the Huffington Post reports.
The U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act aims to reduce the amount of call center jobs that have been contracted out to India and the Philippines over the past 10 years. According to the CWA, the number of call center employees in the U.S. dropped from 5.2 million in 2006 to 4.7 million in 2010, and is in continued free fall.
Under the proposed bill, American call center companies that send contract workers overseas would lose their federal loan eligibility for five years, and representatives working in foreign call centers would be required to not only disclose their current location but offer an option to transfer the caller to a U.S.-based agent.
The news source notes in a separate article that the bill stands to seriously hinder a significant money-making source in the Philippines. A Filipino parliamentarian recently requested that President Benigno Aquino III send a lobby team to Washington to stop the bill.
