Labor group opposes gov’t order for BPO workers to return to office

                                                        

Photo from The Guardian

 

The labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) supported the call of BPO workers against the government order for all of them to return to their offices by April 1.

 

“Dapat balik trabahong ligtas para sa BPO workers. Mandating the return to office of 1.4 million IT and BPO workers on the sole basis of economic and tax reasons disregards the issue of health and safety of employees. This is a recipe for disaster,” stated Bryan Nadua of PM. Nadua is also a BPO worker.

 

The groups BPO Employees for Leni-Kiko and IT&BPO Professionals for Leni and Kiko started a petition on Change.org opposing the return to officer order by the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) of the Department of Finance. The FIRB cited the CREATE Law that provides that BPO as economic zones must “exclusively conducted or operated within the geographical boundaries of the zone or freeport.”

 

In contrast the BPO workers argue that “The occupational safety and health committees, with employee representation, are in the best position to evaluate safety in our workplaces and recommend a safe full RTO or to maintain the present hybrid setup - not a government that ignores real-life conditions.”

 

Nadua emphasized that the Philippines subscribes to the principle of tripartism and social dialogue and yet the return to office order was without the benefit of consultation and discussion with BPO workers.

 

Jodelle Villanueva, a former Customer Service Representative before becoming an HR Manager in a BPO in one of her previous engagements, argued that COVID-19 is very transmissible in the enclosed office setting of BPOs. “Even before the pandemic, if one BPO employee gets a cough or cold, in a day or two, someone else will show similar symptoms due to infection. Headsets too are sometimes shared among employees and are another way by which COVID-19 might be easily transmitted in a 100% fully operational scenario,” Villanueva described.

 

Both Villanueva and Nadua are suggesting that alternatives be considered such as 50 to 75% of BPO workers returning to the office and implementing a compressed work week while maintaining the work for home or anywhere for the rest of the week.

 

PM is calling on Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to initiate a tripartite social dialogue, that must include representatives of BPO workers, to come up with an acceptable solution to the return to office in BPOs.

March 14, 2022