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CWA Says Americans Support Legislation to Limit Call Center Offshoring

By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor

Americans can finally agree on something. We hate offshore outsourcing, and we support legislation to do something about it.

A new survey conducted by the Communications Workers of America (CWA (News - Alert)) union reveals broad support for new legislation circulating through Congress that would address concerns about the data security risks of offshore outsourcing as well as the job losses associated with shipping jobs to overseas call centers. In response, the CWA says it plans to launch a new campaign to spotlight the call center issue in key Senate and House races.

The CWA found that more than three quarters of American voters give a bad mark to call centers. These same voters also overwhelmingly back proposed anti-outsourcing legislation that contains provisions such as allowing calls to be transferred to a domestic call operator, and preventing companies that outsource call centers from receiving federal or state grants or tax breaks.

The opinions were relatively bipartisan. Overall, 78 percent of voters rate overseas call centers negatively, with nearly 6 in 10 (59 percent) saying they have a very unfavorable impression of them. Voters across the board hold a negative view of overseas call centers, including Democrats (12 percent favorable/79 percent unfavorable), Independents, (13 percent favorable/78 percent unfavorable) and Republicans (14 percent favorable/75 percent unfavorable).

During the announcement of the findings of the study on a conference call today, Celinda Lake, President of Lake Research Partners, confirmed that voters across the political spectrum overwhelmingly support anti-offshoring proposals. Said Lake, “Very few polls today show the kind of unanimity and the kind of intensity that we find in this poll. The proposals outlined in the poll all receive broad, bi-partisan support and are rooted in voters’ core values.”

“Call center legislation, such as the House bill from Tim Bishop and Dave McKinley and the Senate bill from Bob Casey, would be very good for U.S. workers and our nation’s economic recovery, especially in economically distressed areas and for chronically underemployed workers,” said Ron Collins, chief of staff of CWA. “As the new poll results show, the details of these bills have overwhelming support across the political spectrum, as consumers increasingly are concerned about the security of their personal information and recognize the job and economic growth potential of a strengthened domestic call center industry.”

To address the issue further, the CWA is launching a new campaign today that includes radio ads in support of congressional champions backing critical call center legislation – including U.S. Senate candidates Tammy Baldwin (WI) and Martin Heinrich (NM), as well as the U.S. House candidacies of original call center legislation sponsor Tim Bishop (NY) and Betty Sutton (OH).

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