A union for call centre workers in the Philippines claims skeleton crews are sleeping in the office in potentially unsafe conditions to help Australian customers, despite the risk of the coronavirus.
Key points:
- Staff have allegedly been sleeping in the office at call centres that handle customer service work for Telstra and Optus in the Philippines
- Telstra has instructed company Teleperformance to remove all workers on its accounts from on-site accommodation
- Optus has set up worksites that allow for greater social distancing and provided hotel accommodation for some staff
7.30 can reveal the allegations involve worker complaints about two companies that handle accounts for Telstra and Optus.
But Telstra has said that on its instructions all workers on its accounts have been shifted to alternative accommodation.
The claims come several weeks after the Financial Times exposed poor conditions for workers employed by French multinational outsourcing company, Teleperformance.
Images show Filipino workers in Cebu sleeping closely together on mattresses on the office floor where they are contracted to do work for Amazon.
Mylene Cabalona, president of local union BPO Industry Employees Network, has received a complaint about a Teleperformance office in Manila where customer service work is done for Telstra.
The complaint alleges workers were sleeping in a training room and have only just been moved to another office and provided with hotel accommodation following outrage about conditions shown in the Cebu footage.
“Teleperformance is one of the bigges