Group calls for safety committees in the wake of BPO violations during Cebu earthquake

 

Photo by Lokal Cebuano

A group of call center workers demanded that safety committees be immediately formed in all BPO companies with worker members to be elected in the wake of occupational safety and health violations by companies during the recnt earthquake. “Workers must have voice and participation in the workplace, especially with regard to safety and health concerns. This will save workers’ lives,” Gilbert Romo, spokesperson for the Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW), asserted.

 

The Republic Act No. 11058 or Occupational Safety and Health Law  mandates the establishment of safety committees with employee representatives. The same law stipulates fines of up to P100,000 for OSH violations. “These are two ways to ensure that this hazardous behavior does not happen again,” Romo added.

 

Thus, ICCAW is calling on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to levy fines on BPO companies which put employee lives at risk during the earthquake. Romo stated that the majority of BPOs at the Cebu IT Park and Cebu Business Park did not allow their employees to leave the premises at the height of the earthquake or called them back to work after just a couple of hours despite the risk of aftershocks. Some BPO employees resigned on the spot out of fear for their lives. “Call centers put profit above people’s lives and safety. This is unacceptable. We call on the DOLE for urgent action on this blatant violation of the OSH Law,” Romo said.

 

ICCAW called on fellow BPO workers to come forward with testimonies of the unsafe actions of the management of call centers amid the earthquake. “BPO workers are not immortal. We are humans. Similar to how BPOs ask employees to go to work despite heavy rains and widespread flooding, these companies prioritized smooth running of operations over the welfare of their employees. Working in the graveyard shift—which is common in BPOs—is already a health risk but keeping employees at work during an earthquake is too much. Hanapbuhay ang kailangan naming manggagawa, hindi hanappatay,” Romo insisted.  

  

ICCAW is an industry-wide group of BPO employees that was founded in 2013 in Cebu in solidarity with workers of a call center that abruptly shut down. It currently has members in different call centers in the Cebu IT Park. In 2014 it came out with an 8-point agenda of pro-labor reforms in the BPO industry. These include tax breaks, bond to indemnify workers in case of closure, quick reaction teams in case of sudden shutdown, hospitalization insurance, above minimum salary, regular labor inspections, elected workers representatives in a grievance machinery, and regularization of employees.

Press Release

October 7, 2025

Inter-Call Center Association of Workers