Summary:
La loi ‘Keep Call Centers in America Act’ vise à freiner la délocalisation des centers d’appels. Elle impose aux entreprises de notifier le département du Travail 120 jours avant un transfert à l’étranger et maintient une liste publique des employeurs délocalisant leur activité. Ces derniers ne pourront pas bénéficier de nouvelles subventions fédérales ni de prêts garantis tant qu’ils resteront sur cette liste. De plus, les travailleurs des centers d’appels devront informer les appelants de leur localisation et d’éventuels recours à l’intelligence artificielle.
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Call centers, which employ approximately 3 million customer service representatives across the country per the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), are a major economic force in the United States. In recent years, many call center operators have shifted operations overseas and have shut down or downsized their U.S. operations. As a result, BLS projects a loss of 150,000 U.S. call center jobs by 2033. Businesses are also increasingly replacing call center workers with automated phone and chatbot systems to cut costs at the expense of quality customer service. A survey from the Data for Progress shows that 70% of Americans find the use of automated phone systems over live customer support representatives frustrating.
The Keep Call Centers in America Act would work to reverse this trend by limiting federal benefits to companies that ship call center jobs overseas.
What will the Keep Call Centers in America Act do?
– Require businesses to notify the Department of Labor (DOL) at least 120 days before relocating a call center overseas or contracting out call center work to another entity that relocates the work overseas.
– Direct DOL to maintain a public list of employers that have relocated call center work overseas. Employers will remain on this list for five years unless they return an equal or greater number of call center jobs to the U.S. or amend the terms of their contract with the entity performing their call center work to require the work be done in the U.S. Make employers on this list ineligible for new federal grants and federal guaranteed loans. Employers have 180 days to be removed from the list to be eligible for new grants and loans. Employers with existing awards must pay a monthly penalty, and the award is to be canceled if the employer remains on the list one year after the first penalty is paid. Exceptions may be made for employers based on certain conditions.
– Require agencies to give preference to U.S. employers that do not appear on the list when awarding contracts and require that all call center work performed on federal contracts be performed in the U.S.
– Require call center workers to immediately disclose to callers the physical location of the call center and/or whether artificial intelligence is being used. Call workers are further required to transfer communications to a call center located in the U.S. if a customer requests that they do so.
– Require DOL to prepare a report on the amount and location of call center work being performed for the federal government as well as any job losses associated with the use of artificial intelligence for customer service for Federal call center work.
The bill’s requirements apply to businesses that employ 50 or more full-time employees or that employ 50 or more employees who in aggregate work at least 1,500 hours per week.
Endorsements: Communications Workers of America