Federal stats show nearly 14,000 jobs at call centers in Ohio have been lost in the last decade. Now Senate Democrats have proposed a bill that seeks to protect 170,000 workers still at call centers in Ohio.
The bill would require call center companies that want to outsource at least 30 percent of their operations to notify the state at least 120 days in advance, or face a $10,000 daily fine and placement on a bad actors list. And it would require the state to use only Ohio-based call centers for their customer service operations.
"This is a survival issue for working families in Ohio, union and non-union," says Frank Mathews of the Communications Workers of America District 4 in Cleveland. “These laws and rules would apply across the board whether you’re a union or a non-union company.”
A similar proposal failed last year. The House version is expected to have Republican co-sponsorship.
But the bill faces an uphill battle, since it’s opposed by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
