Call center agents, former Oro Chamber prexy wary on fate of outsourcing jobs with Obama

November 7, 2008

By Lizanilla J. Amarga

Some call center agents here are voicing fears that US President-elect Barack Obama’s economic policies might affect those into Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in the country and thus, in effect, the jobs they create locally.
Gary Garcia and Lily Bacan, both call center agents, said Obama’s acceptance speech following his nomination as Democratic candidate for US presidential post included how there will be a move to stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs out of US soils.
They said the president-elect even mentioned further how these tax breaks will then be given to companies that will create more jobs right there in America.
According to them, these US-based corporations which will be affected by Obama’s policies are the “work-buyers” of call center agencies.
They said call centers become “work-suppliers” for these companies which need “telemarketing arms” to push their products to potential buyers residing in the United States or in some other foreign country.
“When these companies get punished by Obama’s policies, it will affect their investments in Asia even including Cagayan de Oro city which is one of the fastest growing hub for call centers in the country,” Garcia said.
Bacan admitted that not all call center agencies have US-based corporations as some are based in the United Kingdom, Canada and other countries where labor is not as cheap as in Asia.
“But a considerable bulk are US-based corporations which are subject to tax by the US government,” she said.
Oro Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Oro Chambers) former president Ruben Vegafria said there is the possibility that Obama’s economic policies might affect call centers in the country and even in the city.
Still, he believes that Obama’s policies might not work immediately because business is profit-driven and that the cost of labor outside US soil is still very cheap.
“Thus, US government has to provide BPOs with incentives to keep them but with recession in place I don’t think Obama’s plan will work. Maybe in the long term,” he told Gold Star Daily.

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