Employees lodge plaint vs call center

CEBU, Philippines – A group of employees has launched a mass action over alleged violations by their call center ranging from delayed salaries to illegal suspension of workers.

“The call center business is called a sunshine industry but why are we working in conditions resembling the Dark Ages?” said Glenda Plaza, an employee at BTS Staff for Less Philippines in a press statement sent to The FREEMAN.

Plaza said that they have brought their plight to the attention of the public and the Department of Labor and Employment after a series of complaints and petitions to the management which reportedly brought no results.

Dennis Derige, the spokesperson of the Partido ng Manggagawa in the same statement, said that the call center workers alleged that aside from delayed wages, the said company has not been remitting deductions for the Social Security System, PhilHealth and Pag-Ibig.

They also said the company has not been paying maternity leaves, and has not forwarded their tax refunds for two years now.

The FREEMAN tried to reach the management but they were not available for comment.

Derige added that last week the aggrieved employees found out that the said company is reportedly not registered with the DOLE and neither is the apprenticeship program enlisted with both the DOLE and TESDA as required by law.

Derige further said that the workers are complaining of the company’s alleged practice of suspending for 10 days, without due process, employees who have not met the target quota of calls.

BTS is a three-year-old company located at Baybayon, Datag, barangay Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City, and handles accounts for insurance policies from abroad and also local companies.

Derige added that the said company has around 200 employees but only 60 are regular and the rest are apprentices. – Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/BRP (THE FREEMAN)