Call center closes, 130 displaced workers seek help

LEADAMORPHOSIS, A US based call center in Cebu has stopped operations Wednesday last week. The closure displaced at least 130 employees.

The employees also sought the help of the Inter-Call Center Association of Workers (ICCAW) after the firm, Leadamorphosis, failed to pay them their full salary from Dec. 16 to Dec. 31.

The call center agents held a rally yesterday outside the Leadamorphosis office in Escario St., Cebu City, to protest the closure and the non-payment of their full salary.

Iristelyn Galimba, employees’ spokesperson , said that last January 10, they received only 30 percent of their salary for their work from December 16 to 31, 2013.

Galimba said Leadamorphosis never told them if they will still be able to receive the remaining 70 percent of their Dec. 16 to Dec. 31 salary and their salary for the January 1 to 8, 2014 work period.

FIRM START

Jay Roland Ramirez, one of the employees, said that the company started operating May 2013 after it changed its name from Vector BPO, which started operations in September 2008.

Ramirez said that their clients were from the US. They marketed home security products, education products, and emergency pendants.

The workers complained that the company didn’t tell them about the impending closure of the Cebu office.

Galimba said that they tried calling the company’s vice president and general manager, who they believe are still in Cebu, but their calls were left unanswered.

They also sent him messages at Facebook but they still got no reply.

Rossie Hong of ICCAW said that they will bring the employees’ complaint to the Department of Labor and Employment.

This is the second call center company that shut down, where ICCAW is helping the displaced workers.

The first was the Direct Access Co. which closed last 2012 and displaced more than 350 workers.

ICCAW is an organization made up of at least 15 call center companies in Cebu.