Brian Finnegan

One of the world's largest "contact center" companies in the world, U.S.-based giant Alorica, has been expanding in the Philippines where over 1.3 million women and men work in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector. These workers and their allies come together through BIEN, the BPO Industry Employees Network, to defend workers interests in this booming sector. Alorica, a global player in this industry, offers "customer experience" services to the U.S. market for clients like Comcast, AT&T, Citibank, Barclays and Caesars.  

On Oct. 15, 2018 the United States Department of Labor issued a “progress” report on the Honduran government’s implementation of an action plan (MAP) negotiated between the parties in 2015. The MAP was developed in response to a complaint filed by the AFL-CIO, Honduran unions and Honduran nongovernmental organizations under the Central American Free Trade Agreement’s (CAFTA) labor chapter in 2012, which included cases concerning child labor, illegally low pay and denial of the right to organize and to bargain. The U.S. government had found that nearly every claim in the petition was supported by the evidence and that the Honduran government had in fact routinely failed to enforce its laws.

In St. Louis, representatives from over forty countries gathered with U.S. unions and their allies to discuss strategies to build global power for workers from local workplaces to worldwide supply chains.