The proposed legislation, titled 'Call Centre Worker & Consumer Protection Act’ also requires the Secretary of Labour to maintain a list of employers that locate call centres overseas and provide a 120 day advance notification before moving a call centre overseas.
A bipartisan bill tabled in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday to make companies that move call centres overseas ineligible for grants or guaranteed loans from the federal government, is expected to affect call centre employees across the globe, including centres in India.
Under the protectionist legislation, customer service representatives working overseas for US corporations will also have to disclose their locations upon request and offer callers the option of being transferred to call centres back in America.
The proposed legislation, titled 'Call Centre Worker & Consumer Protection Act’ also requires the Secretary of Labour to maintain a list of employers that locate call centres overseas and provide a 120 day advance notification before moving a call centre overseas.
Reacting to the US move Nasscom Vice-President Ameet Nivsarkar said: “This Bill is basically aimed at retaining jobs and creating more employment in the US, as the call centres have been doing the same in the outsourced nation.”
In a statement, he said, “It is indeed disappointing to see US adopting ‘protectionist’ measures like these that restrict free trade and establish discriminatory trade practices.”
Mittal felt that the bill could hurt the US economy.
The provisions will clearly hurt American companies operating call centres in countries like India. While Indian companies don't foresee too much of an impact, the IT industry is concerned.
“This is definitely a concern but I think these are sort of protectionist measures that they are being built up in run up to the presidential elections next year in United States. It will not have a significant impact on Mphasis,” said Ganesh Murthy, CFO of mphasiS. He further said that this was a build up ahead of presidential elections next year.
Moreover, he feels that the move will not affect BPO companies like Mphasis, which does not have many contracts with international call centres.
Unemployment in the US has eased from above 9 per cent now. But strong backing from the Communication Workers of America – a union that represents 150,000 call centre workers in the US quashing this renewed wave of protectionism will not be easy.
In a report, issued recently by the CWA, the union alleged that outsourced call centres, including some based in India, pose a serious security threat as there are insufficient safeguards in place to deter fraud.
The report titled 'Why Shipping Call Center Jobs Overseas Hurts Us Back Home' cited several examples of security breaches involving outsourced call centres, including in India.
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