Press Releases

Another day, another revelation of fraudulent activity targeting U.S. consumers coming from overseas call centers, the Communications Workers of America said today. The latest news, similar to a February announcement, is that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) uncovered a scam operating out of Indian call centers that preyed on American consumers.

The Communications Workers of America today stated their strong support for the continuing efforts by Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) to shed light on the ongoing crises of rampant consumer identity theft in foreign call centers, as their bi-partisan legislative effort to remedy this serious problem gains more support. The letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk states in part: In an increasingly global economy, countless call centers are relocating from the United States to foreign shores. Conservative estimates place call center job losses in the United States at over 500,000 in the countries like India, the Philippines, and China. In the Philippines, the outsources industry is expected to pull in $13 billion and provide 650,00 jobs in 2012; India employs roughly 330,000 call center workers and earns about $6 billion per year through the BPO industry. While some corporations may see inflated profit margins due to outsourcing practices, such profits come at the expense of the safety and security of sensitive American consumer data.

As momentum builds on behalf of bi-partisan legislation to strengthen the domestic call center industry ? cutting down on fraudulent activity centered in overseas call centers in the process ? the Communications Workers of America (CWA) today announces an effort to thank Members from both parties who back this legislation.

Negotiations and discussions continued today in bargaining between CWA and four AT&T units: AT&T East, AT&T Midwest, AT&T Legacy and AT&T West. Stay tuned to this space for more developments.

CWA President Larry Cohen will be on the Ed Show, with host Ed Schultz, tonight, talking about the attack on workers and their unions coming from Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-Calif.) Then he heads to the War Room on Current TV, hosted by former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, to talk about ALEC and the Chamber of Commerce's orchestrated attack on workers rights and other issues in the states.