EDITORIAL - Deeper thought needed

It does not come as a surprise that the eyes of the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Conference of the Philippines would grow moist looking at the Business Process Outsourcing or BPO industry in the country.

This new sunshine industry currently employs roughly 300,000 workers nationwide, a number that is likely to double in less than five years time. In fact, the real surprise is how come the labor unions have not taken some initiative to venture into this sector until now.

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether it would be a good idea to organize workers in the BPO industry considering that employees in this sector apparently work under circumstances that are unique compared to other sectors in the overall labor front.

It would not be surprising if to some people the BPO industry is seen as the goose that lays the golden egg. This is not to say organizing BPO workers is a bad idea. The worse that may be said on the matter is that it is a risky proposition.

As such, it deserves some serious thought before pursuing. That is if the real intent of the unions is the welfare of the workers. But if it is only salivating after its own interests, then it might be best to think again.

Cebu and the rest of the country have seen relative peace on the labor front for at least a decade. It may not necessarily be due to some growing irrelevance of unions. Maybe it is simply that a climate of responsible and mature labor relationship has descended and must be preserved.

As has often been said — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If organizing BPO workers only leads to disruptions in what is otherwise a harmonious labor environment, it has to be reiterated that deep and serious thought need to be made before taking the first step.

All things being equal, however, everything is not all hunky-dory as a whole in the BPO sector. Even in the best of circumstances, there will always be kinks to ruffle the smoothness, especially if government, through the labor department, stays negligent and unvigilant.

Indeed, this piece would not be complete without mentioning the fact that there are BPO companies that abuse their workers by not paying them regular salaries but only allowances based on performance standards that can never be met — the BPO’s novel way of “casualization.”