CWA: Offshore call centers cost jobs, a risk to consumer info security

The Communications Workers of America today said that offshore call centers place consumers' personal information at risk and cost U.S. workers jobs.

The union, in its report, Why Shipping Call Center Jobs Overseas Costs Us Back Home, said the recent trend of "sub-outsourcing" former Indian-based call center work to even cheaper foreign labor markets like the Philippines have created more risks. It also said bi-partisan legislation introduced in Congress last week that would ban taxpayer dollars in the form of federal grants or guaranteed loans to American companies that move call center jobs overseas was critical legislation.

"If American companies insist on taking American jobs overseas, American taxpayers should not be subsidizing corporate greed," said CWA chief of staff Ron Collins. "This report spotlights not only the risks of a consumer's personal information floating around foreign call centers, but the fact that a U.S. citizen's constitutional rights preventing the illegal search and seizure of his or her data evaporate once it leaves the country."

The "U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act," co-sponsored by Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and Rep. Dave McKinley (R-WV) would also require call center employees to disclose their location to U.S. consumers and transfer that call to a U.S.-based center if requested by the consumer, as well as require that a list of companies that off-shore their call center work be made available to the public.

The CWA also said the report found that when a U.S. customer's financial information is sent overseas, it loses the protections of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. That means the data can be collected and analyzed by U.S. federal agencies without a warrant.

It also pointed out that the Philippines surpassed India as the top destination for U.S. companies off-shoring call center jobs. American companies also have opened call centers in countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China and Mexico.

For more:
- see this release
- see the full report