Press Release
January 13, 2014
Some one hundred employees of a BPO company in Cebu City
held a mass action at their office building today in protest at illegal closure
and non-payment of salaries. Workers of Leadamorphosis picketed the Dakay Building
along Escario St.
in downtown Cebu before trooping to the
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to file cases against management.
“Leadamorphosis management took away the joy from Christmas
and the hope for the new year. Fly-by-night BPO companies like Leadamorphosis
are a scourge on young workers and breadwinners,” asserted Marnick Unabia, one
of some 120 affected employees.
Leadamporphosis workers only received 30% of their wages due
for December 15 to 31, 2013 while none of the mandatory deductions for the last
quarter of last year have been remitted. Leadamorphosis also did not submit any
required notices with DOLE for bankruptcy, insolvency, redundancy or closure
before abruptly shutting down last January 8.
The Leadamorphosis workers are expecting to hold a dialogue
with DOLE Region 7 officials for the resolution of their grievances after the
formal filing of complaints. Meanwhile their call for Leadamorphosis management
to meet with them has fallen on deaf ears. They have been on vigil outside
their office since last Friday to stop management from running away with
company assets.
Rosie Hong of the Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW)
criticized DOLE for its inability to require BPO companies to put up cash bonds
to defray employees for their money claims. ICCAW is an industry-wide
association of BPO workers and has a chapter among Leadamorphosis employees. “In
the parlance of the BPO industry, the DOLE is a bottom performer for failing to
meet its metrics,” Hong claimed.
The DOLE was supposed to compel BPO companies to put up cash
bonds equivalent to one month of salaries and benefits of its total workforce. The
bond requirement was proposed at the height of the hasty shutdown of another the
Cebu City-based BPO company called Direct Access that left some 600 employees
with unpaid wages, commissions, overtime pay and separation benefits.
“The DOLE has been found sleeping once more on the job. Where
can Leadamorphosis workers now get their unpaid wages and unremitted deductions
in the absence of a bond? Does the DOLE want a dozen more BPO companies to run
away from its obligations to thousands of workers before it acts on its responsibilities?,”
Hong added.
Leadamarphosis handles voice and non-voice outbound calls
for US clients. The company was formerly called Vector whose corporate officers
still comprise Leadamorphosis. In June of 2013 it merged with another BPO
company called Sasnet which handled non-voice marketing for home security
gadgets.
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