Bill to quash call centers in India introduced in the House.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A newly introduced piece of legislation in the US Congress aims to make it more difficult for American companies to outsource their call centers to foreign countries, including India.
The bill – a joint venture by six bipartisan Congressmen including Tim Bishop (D-New York), who introduced it as the “US Call Center and Consumer Protection Act of 2013,” will make it mandatory for cell center employees to disclose where they are speaking from; if that location is not in the US, they are required to offer the customer a transfer to one of their US-based call center employees.
Additionally, the bill calls on the US Department of Labor to keep tabs on which companies move their call centers overseas, and would penalize these firms by denying them direct and indirect federal loans for a minimum of three years. The bill is supported by the Communications Workers of America, a union of 700,000 members working in communication-related fields.
The bill is co-sponsored by Chris Gibson (R-New York), Gene Green (D-Texas), Mike Grimm (R-New York), Dave McKinley (R-West Virginia), and Mike Michaud (D-Maine).
“If you bet against America and outsource jobs, American taxpayers turn their back on you–it’s that simple. Our strong bipartisan coalition speaks with one voice, only good corporate citizens who grow jobs in America deserve taxpayer support,” said Gibson.
McKinley also chimed in, saying “Our number one priority in Congress is not only creating but keeping American jobs, and this bill could help save thousands of them. We should not mandate that companies keep all of their call centers here in America and we also don’t have to help them finance the off-shoring of American jobs by providing them with federal funds.”
The bill is not yet law – it must first be passed by the House and Senate before the President even looks at it – but this will likely not be the last we’ve heard of it.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com