Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), introduced the United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act. The legislation will protect 3.6 million call center jobs in the United States by preventing them from being outsourced overseas.
The bill is a response to the increasing number of call center jobs leaving the U.S. in recent years, which has devastated the economies of numerous American communities and has placed the American consumer’s sensitive information at risk.
“I am a firm believer that if you give a West Virginian or American a job, we can do it better than anyone around the globe.
We in Congress should be finding ways to preserve, strength, and create additional jobs in this country, not outsource them to other countries. Why should the economies of other countries reap the economic benefits of a service we can provide in America?” said Senator Manchin. “I am proud to introduce this bill and will always fight to help communities across West Virginia and the U.S.”
The United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act would:
- Make companies that ship call centers overseas ineligible for federal grants and guaranteed loans;
- Require that all call center work performed on federal contracts be done in the U.S. and that the federal government give preference to companies that do not off-shore jobs when awarding contracts;
- Ensure that U.S. callers be told the location of the call center they are speaking with and offered the option of being transferred to a U.S.-based call center should they prefer.
This bill is supported by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Gary Peters (D-MI).