Lawmakers push protection for night-shift workers

MANILA, Philippines - Administration lawmakers called for more protection for business process outsourcing (BPO) workers owing to their high attrition rate due to nightshift-related illness.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said BPO workers must be given “the highest level of protection” as nearly all of them work all night to adjust to the time of their Western-based clients.

Casiño filed House Bill 6073 which seeks to promote occupational health and safety in the BPO industry through the formulation of Occupational Health and Safety standards for BPO work.

He said the erratic schedule together with repetitive work and artificial daytime environment that employees are subjected to cause undue psychological and physical stress on call center workers.

“Underneath the short-term economic advantages of the BPO industry is a ticking time-bomb of illnesses which in the end the country will have to pay for through its social health services and ailing workforce,” Casio said.

The bill provides that such standards shall adhere to the prevailing standards of health and safety for BPO work and other similar employment and that the minimum provisions in the standards meet the International Labor Organization’s recommendations.

The measure also creates Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) workplace representatives to monitor the work environment in BPO firms.

The proposal institutes guidelines for compliance with international OHS standards as well as makes employers criminally liable for acts endangering the welfare of BPO workers.

The bill provides a mechanism for compensation for work-related injuries and illnesses and considers nightshift work as hazardous.

“It is the moral duty of the BPO industry to ensure that our relatively young workforce do not succumb to illnesses of unusual work caused by the unnatural work environment. Compliance to OHS standards is a must for limiting the adverse effects of nightshift and call center work to employees’ health,” Casiño said.

Ang Kasangga party-list Rep. Teodorico Haresco said the BPO sector contributed about $11 billion to the country’s GDP last year and is expected to continue to grow in the next several years and thus result in more Filipinos being employed by the industry.

“Our workers in the BPO sector is the single biggest pillar in the industry and they are also the reason why more and more firms come to the country, so the strength of this pillar of our economy must be protected, Haresco said.

He also warned of the huge social costs if a majority of workers in the sector retire early or the high attrition rate continues.

“Their (BPO) workers’ high salaries would be wasted and their families would not be able to save money if the same salaries are used to pay for huge hospital bills,” Haresco said.