BPO Industry Employees Network

Over 1.8 million people in the Philippines are employed in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, providing call centre and digital services to some of the biggest multinationals in the world. Despite being a multi-billion dollar industry, workers in the BPO sector are poorly paid, Grueling hours, harassment, impossible to meet targets and job insecurity are facts of life for most BPO workers. These challenges have been compounded by COVID-19, resulting in tens of thousands of job losses and high rates of infection in the workplace.

BIEN (BPO Industry Employees Network) is the lone voice for workers in the sector, advocating for the safe conditions, job security and decent pay that BPO workers deserve. Supported by UnionAID, BIEN fearlessly organise BPO workers into local chapters, run campaigns, educate people on workers’ rights, and provide paralegal support to those unjustly treated.

Following a tragic building fire in 2016 that killed 36 BPO workers, BIEN was part of an alliance that successfully campaigned for stricter health and safety laws, as well as compensation for families of the deceased. BIEN won improved job security law changes in the city of Bagiuo for BPO workers and throughout Covid-19 has exposed unsafe conditions forced upon workers by some of the world’s biggest companies.

UnionAID has partnered with BIEN for the next three years to provide them with the resources they need to advocate for better working conditions, exercise their right to freedom of association, and ensure secure and decent jobs for BPO workers in the Philippines.