The Department of Labor and Employment in Region 7 (DOLE-7) is looking into a report of several call center agents in Cebu City that had been allegedly suffering from ‘subhuman conditions’ inside their offices.
Salome Siaton, regional director of DOLE-7, said they have deployed a team to inspect the customer support service staff of Amazon’s Ring subsidiary, which is managed by a business process outsourcing (BPO) in Cebu City.
Ring is Amazon’s popular camera system.
RELATED STORY: LOOK: 30,000 test kits for COVID-19 arrived in Cebu
Photos shared by the Financial Times showed these employees sleeping on the floor with meager mats. Another one was sleeping on a treadmill.
Siaton said the team would verify the alleged report and at the same time do an inspection to see if this is COVID-19-related.
Under the several provisions of the executive orders for BPO companies in Cebu City and even the guidelines set by the national government, they are still allowed to operate provided that they only maintain a skeleton workforce.
Siaton emphasized that the company must abide by the occupation health and safety standards.
READ ON: Majority of Duterte cabinet members to donate 75% of salary to help COVID-19 fight
Their condition has also reached the UNI Global Union, one of the world’s largest labor groups representing workers from the skills and services industries, including BPOs.
But in a report by Cebu Daily News Digital, one employee said the report may have been “sensationalized” because they were living “comfortably and safe” in their office.
However, one employee said they were only given out foams to sleep on without even blankets to keep them warm.
