Bill puts focus on overseas call centers

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown has sponsored legislation that would require companies to disclose when customers’ telephone calls are being transferred to overseas call centers.

According to a Communications Workers of America (CWA) analysis of May 2011 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 198,450 Ohioans were employed in call center occupations such as switchboard operators, telephone operators, bill collectors and customer service representatives.

Between 2008 and 2011, Ohio had a net loss of 2,330 call center jobs.

In addition to mandating customers know when their call is transferred overseas, Brown’s bill would also make businesses that move call center jobs overseas ineligible for federal loans and grants, have the United States Department of Labor make a list of companies that have outsourced call center jobs, and require agencies to give preference to U.S. companies that do not appear on the list.