Dangerous Bill Reaches Congressional Floor

Two weeks ago, New York Senator Charles Schumer has introduced legislation that, if passed, will be harmful to businesses of all sizes.  The bill, introduced on June 2nd, aims to limit businesses’ abilities to outsource call center services.

The legislation would hamper businesses ability to increase performance and cut costs.  If companies are forced to pay higher wages for call center employees, they would be limited in their ability to increase pay and create higher value jobs.  I hardly think that the future of the US labor force is in call centers.  The downside to consumers would also be significant.  The increase in expenses could be passed along to consumers, or businesses could choose to pare down the services they offer.  Consumers could face longer wait times when calling businesses.

It seems that Schumer believes that the only companies utilizing offshore call center services are Fortune 500 corporations with deep pockets.  That is far from the truth.  We serve businesses of all sizes, from large corporations, to entrepreneurs and sole proprietors.  In most cases, the alternative to hiring overseas is to not hire at all.  This is particularly true in the case of customer service, data entry, and telemarketing outsourcing.

Schumer is also ignoring the impact his bill would have on other countries.  I understand that he is attempting to look out for his own constituency.  During the years of George Bush’s presidency, Schumer repeatedly derided the president for “squandering the good will of the world” by invading Iraq.  Apparently, Mr. Schumer is no longer concerned about the “good will of the world”.  Protectionist measures like the bill he recently authored would be devastating to poor, friendly, developing nations such as India and the Philippines.  Currently, there are an estimated 900,000 Filipinos employed in the Business Process Outsourcing industry.  That number is even higher in India.  The BPO industry is crucial to the Philippines economy, and the population as a whole, of which approximately one third live on less than one dollar per day.

Please tell Senator Schumer that this bill is wrong for America, and wrong for the world.  He can be contacted via his web page: http://schumer.senate.gov/