Instead of waiting for job vacancies related to her course, Cindy, a Mass Communication graduate decided to work in a business process outsourcing company after she graduated.

For almost nine months, she is still receiving a tight salary just enough to finance her expenses and for her daily dose of vitamins.

Because of her night shifts, she pay extra amount for her transportation and irregular meal habits.

Despite the fact that BPO is the number one job generating industry in the country, they were still given the least attention by the government, according to partylist group Kabataan Partylist.

The group is urging for the immediate passage of House Bill 2592 or the "BPO Workers Welfare and Protection Act," which seeks to promote and protect the rights of fellow Filipinos who are employed in Business Process Outsourcing companies.

"With government aggressively promoting BPOs, it is high time that we also express concern for the working conditions in many companies under the BPO industry," said Kabataan Partylist Panay regional coordinator Karlo Mikhail Mongaya.

The group said that the bill seeks to assert the prescribed labor standards set forth in the Labor Code and institutionalize additional benefits that would hopefully address specific work-related problems and issues particular to the nature of work in BPOs.

Salient proposals in the HB include:

Regularization of all BPO workers upon the sixth month of employment as trainee or apprentice, or upon the completion of a maximum probationary training period of six months; standardized restroom breaks not shorter than five minutes each, with intervals of two hours during their working hours;

Entitlement to medical benefits upon entry in the BPO company and not merely upon regularization; right to self-association, to engage in collective bargaining, and to participate in democratic exercises.

In a recent study on the BPO industry, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said that while the BPO industry provide relatively "good" quality jobs, "key changes in the BPO industry policies and practices" need to be pushed to improve work conditions.

The study reported that 48 percent of BPO workers suffer from insomnia while 54 percent from fatigue. Of which, 45.6 percent cited that harassment from irate clients are among the causes of work-related stress among workers, 41 percent from excessive and tedious workload, 37.4 percent from performance demands, 33.7 percent from monotony and 33.4 percent from regular night work.

The ILO study also noted high workforce attrition or staff turnover rates which need to be addressed by "redesigning" work processes, giving BPO workers autonomy and discretion.

"This industry grants apparent and immediate employment opportunities to many of our young people. It is only just that we ensure the rights and welfare of those who have chosen to rely on this "sunshine industry,'" said Kabataan Partylist Representative Raymond Palatino.

The Philippines has the second biggest BPO industry in the world according to ILO. There are about 500,000 BPO workers and 900,000 more is expected to be employed this year. Last year, the industry posted a total earning of $7 billion a year.*with a report from Karen V. Bermejo