Party-list groups Gabriela and Akbayan want business processing outsourcing (BPO) companies based in Cebu sanctioned for allegedly compelling employees to return to work right after a powerful earthquake, saying that the BPOs violated the Occupational Safety and Health Law and disregarded the lives of workers.
Reports received by the BPO Industry Employees Network – Cebu revealed that BPO managers and team leaders reportedly failed to follow safety protocols, endangered employees by resuming operations without clearance from the authorities, and threatened workers who insisted on their right to go home after the calamity.
Some BPO workers took to social media to complain of alleged labor violations such as having emergency exits blocked during the disaster. Some were forced to return to work immediately after the tremors subsided, and others were warned that they would be marked absent without leave if they refused to comply with the order to promptly return to work.
The law provides that workers have the right to refuse unsafe work without fear of retaliation from management if their lives or health are at risk. Employers are mandated to suspend operations until competent authorities have declared workplaces safe.
Gabriela party-list Rep. Sarah Elago said the right to refuse unsafe work is enshrined in the law and forcing workers to return to work amid aftershocks and without a safety clearance is a form of exploitation.
Gabriela is the principal author of Republic Act 11058 or the Occupational Safety and Health Law.
Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña also urged the Department of Labor and Employment to investigate reports of alleged safety violations committed by BPO firms in Cebu.
Disasters like the powerful earthquake that recently hit Cebu can often expose both the best and the worst of the Filipino. In the case of the BPOs that compelled workers to return to work right after a natural disaster, and those that blocked emergency exits, such behaviors certainly need to be addressed, especially by the government, to ensure that both employees and employers emerge better after this experience. If we are going to make the infrastructure stronger and disaster response better, places of work will also need to be safer, manned by managers who know what the priorities are whenever natural or manmade disasters strike.*
