Mylene Cabalona - BPO Industry Employees’ Network (BIEN)
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Since April 2021 Mylene Cabalona, a call center worker and the president of the Business Process Outsourcing Industry Employees’ Network (BIEN), a workers’ association, has been afraid to stay in one place for more than a few days and has been moving around in a rented van, along with other members of the organization’s leadership team. Cabalona was forced into hiding by an onslaught of online threats and abuse, after she and her fellow BIEN executives were accused, reportedly by pro-government trolls, of being terrorists or recruiters for the country’s armed communist insurgency. Local group allege that this practice, known as “red-tagging,” is a common tactic that is used by supporters of the government to discredit civil society leaders. Although BIEN is not a formal union, it is a network of employees spread out across companies and subsectors, its more than 5,000 members run the gamut from traditional call center workers to content moderators for social media companies, and employees at outsourcing companies that work with U.S. banks, airlines, telcos, and consumer technology companies. The organization has been vocal in advocating for secure contracts, fair pay, and safe working conditions during the pandemic. The BPO sector is one of the Philippines’ largest employers, and its biggest companies, such as Teleperformance and Alorica, serve major U.S. clients, including Amazon, Facebook, AT&T, and Verizon.