Sen. Brown supports bill that would require notifying calls are going overseas

LORAIN — Businesses should tell customers who call in for service that they will be transferred to overseas call centers, according to legislation under consideration by Congress.

Sen. Sherrod Brown yesterday threw his support behind the federal United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act of 2012. The bill was introduced in July and is under review in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

The legislation would require companies to notify customers who call in for service that their telephone calls are being transferred abroad.

“When companies send call center jobs overseas, they don’t just frustrate consumers — they hurt our economy as well,” Brown said. “With thousands of Ohioans looking for work, it just doesn’t make sense to ship these jobs overseas. By requiring companies to disclose when their calls are being transferred abroad, businesses could be encouraged to keep their call center jobs here in the United States.”

Brown discussed the issue in a conference call with reporters. He was joined by Terez Woods, of Cleveland, who next week will celebrate her 39th anniversary working at an AT&T call center.

As the United States has lost manufacturing jobs, the customer service industry has grown and become a job provider, Woods said.

“We need these jobs back here,” Woods said, so workers in their 20s can make a career working in customer service.

Training in domestic call centers has suffered because trainers now are working abroad to set up the overseas centers, Woods said.

Callers may be sharing sensitive information and it is vital for customers to trace who they spoke with if they call back a second time, she said.

There are more than 198,450 call center jobs in Ohio, including about 50 at Equity Administrative Services in Elyria, according to figures from Brown’s office.

From 2008 to 2011 Ohio had a net loss of 2,300 call center jobs including switchboard operators, telephone operators, bill collectors and customer service representatives. Brown cited an analysis by the Communications Workers of America, which used May 2011 figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The legislation also would:

• Make businesses that move call center jobs overseas ineligible for federal grants or loans

• Direct the Department of Labor to make a public list of such companies, with employers remaining on the list for three years after each relocation

• Require agencies, including Department of Defense, to give preference to U.S. employers that do not appear on the list. -The Morning Journal, http://morningjournal.com/articles/2012/09/20/news/doc505a954379665222431656.txt?viewmode=2