Call centers. Big corporations use them and chances are you were on the line with a worker from the Philippines recently. More than a million Filipinos work in these call centers — the second-largest workforce in the Philippines.
Labor activist Mylene Cabalona is in Honolulu this week as part of a multi-city stop to talk about the reality of working in a call center overseas. She's the president of the group BIEN, or BPO Industry Employees Network. It’s an association, but it has no bargaining power.
The Conversation spoke with Cabalona about her efforts to unionize workers in call centers — and the dangers involved. She said some labor organizers and human rights defenders have been killed.
This interview aired on The Conversation on July 7, 2022. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
