Just last month, an organization called ACCAP announced its intention to become an accredited party list for the 2010 Philippine elections. During the same month, the organization held a successful press conference attended by different news agencies where ACCAP laid out its legislative plans. According to the organization’s secretary general, Kevin Carreon, ACCAP aims to advance the interests of call center and business process outsourcing (BPO) agents in the country, which is admittedly one of the most neglected labor forces in the country.
What ACCAP stands for
Literally, ACCAP stands for the Association of Call Center and BPO Agents of the Philippines, a non-profit organization formed in 2007 by a group of BPO agents. ACCAP aims to unite communities of BPO and call center workers toward the common goal of making the workers’ personal lives better and developing their careers through non-unionism activities. The original members saw the need to establish the organization because they realized that BPO agents do not receive enough attention and support, not just from their own employers but also from the Philippine government.
Let’s not take this the wrong way though – most call center and BPO agents receive proper compensation and benefits from their employees, and ACCAP recognizes the efforts of the employers. Admittedly, call center and BPO workers receive relatively better benefits than workers in other industries. However, there are still certain issues that employers unconsciously overlook, and this is where ACCAP feels the need to step in to better represent fellow industry workers.
ACCAP’s nationwide reach
In just a span of two years since the organization’s inception, the number of members has gone from the original seven to around 70,000 members, and this number is growing daily. These members are not only call center and BPO workers from Metro Manila but are also from other key BPO destinations like Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo and Pampanga, among many others.
ACCAP’s legislative plans
During the organization’s launch and press conference, ACCAP leaders announced the party list’s full legislative plans. One of the organization’s major plans includes the creation of an administrative body that will address all the current and potential needs of BPO employees in the country. This will be the BPO workforce’s voice on issues that affect the quality of the employees’ lives, industry growth and employment protection. ACCAP’s other major plan is to push for the creation of a call center retirement fund similar to a 401k so that BPO workers will be ensured of a stable financial future.
We don’t know yet whether these efforts of ACCAP are somewhat related to Rep. Mong Palatino’s own efforts at representing call center and BPO workers through his proposed House Bill No. 6921 – a bill that has been highly criticized by individuals from both the call center industry and outside of it. But one thing’s for sure: many people from our industry would like to be represented in Congress. We’d like to have a voice in this policy-making body, and it would be good to have someone from the same industry speak for us.
(Next week’s Part 2 tackles what the BPO and other sectors’ reactions are about ACCAP’s bid for a seat in congress.)
[...] there will be naysayers when the organization starts becoming more active about its plans for the BPO (business process outsourcing) and call center industry. However, these critics should also consider all the efforts the government has put into making the [...]