Outsourcing, visa curbs not in US interest: Congressman

Economic Times of India ^ | May 29, 2003

[sarcasm]

NEW DELHI: While the bills introduced to limit outsourcing and L-1 visas in the US Congress and state legislatures should be treated with a degree of seriousness, there is no need to lose sleep over it.

It is not in the interest of the US to take the protectionist path, feels US Congressman Jay Inslee. The congressman was addressing a CII forum on “Globalisation & Business Process Outsourcing: Win Win for India and the US” in Delhi today.

According to Mr Inslee, while these bills — whether those introduced in the state legislatures or the one introduced by Representative John Mica — seem to have captured the Indian imagination, they are not on the Congress’ radar. He emphasised the need to keep the issues in perspective. However, Mr Inslee added that since September 11, there has been a new urgency for greater security in the US.

What should provide comfort to India is the fact that protectionist efforts, like John Mica’s bill, are considered by many in the US political establishment as impediments to trade. As Mr Inslee put it: “If we want access to the world markets then we can’t create barriers to flow of intellectual capacity.” It is in the interest of the US economy to help the Indian economy grow, he said. “As long as there are 300 million Indian who earn less than $1 a day, there is not much hope of them buying US products.”

While Mr Inslee presented an optimistic picture, he did caution that the issue of outsourcing and L-1 visas is a public issue. This is what makes it difficult. In recent times, Americans have been feeling threatened by outsourcing and this creates anxiety at various levels. He suggested that a good way of dealing with public anxiety was to get the Indian-American community involved in the political process in an active way.

Congressman Inslee said that the people of the US are optimistic and believe in their technical capabilities. Under this environment, protectionism in trade is not logically supported in the US. He believed that the knee-jerk reaction from the Americans is not going to work for long. However, he advised the Indian community and businesses to be observant and sensitive to the issue and continue dialogues at various levels with their US counterparts.

[FITZ]

They probably don't have a big welfare system or prison system to support with taxes. They probably don't have a Medicaid system providing the best medical care to those who have never worked but could work.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

H-1B, L-1 visas and outsourcing is a growing and serious threat to the American high-tech worker and high-tech future. The U.S. is strong because no country can come close to our lead in technology. Without good job prospects, engineering majors will dwindle. As this trend continues Yankee Ingenuity and the resulting high-tech lead in the world will begin to slip.

How many Americans realize that the databases with their medical, financial, insurance and telecommunication records are being run and accessed by foreigners in a foreign country?

And, our standard of living will continue to slide as the U.S. middle-class shrinks as engineers make career changes (to fields they hope cannot be outsourced).

All of this so that some CEO can collect a bigger multi-million dollar bonus this year? Do the shareholders really understand the short-term dividend gain and the inevitable long-term loss? A shrinking U.S. middle-class means fewer people purchasing American goods and services that the CEO's company is selling.

This link is a list of links with lots of good info:
http://www.h1b.info/bookmarks.php

This link gives each congressman a report card for their stand on visas:
http://www.betterimmigration.com/

[LuisBasco]

Outsourced: Death in Silicon Valley
CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2003 09:28:43 AM ]
WASHINGTON: On a recent April afternoon in Silicon Valley, moments after he was told he had been laid off from his computer programming job at a Bank of America training centre, Kevin Flanagan stepped into the parking lot and shot himself dead.

Some of America's technology workers, who like Flanagan have also had to collect pink slips over the last several months, think they know why Flanagan took his life: Bank of America not only outsourced his job to India, but forced him to train Indian workers to do the job he had to give up.

In the weeks since his death, the techies have used the incident as fuel to fire a campaign against outsourcing to India, an issue that now seems poised to become a major sticking point between the two countries. Several US states are already considering legislation to ban or limit outsourcing.

Bank of America is one of several major US corporations – General Electric, Microsoft, Intel are among others - under scrutiny for outsourcing jobs to India. The Bank created what is called a "Global Delivery centre" in 2000 to identify projects that could be sent offshore.

Since then it has signed agreements with Infosys and Tata Consulting Services (TCS) to provide solutions and services.

In an e-mail exchange with this correspondent, Kevin's father Tom Flanagan said "a significant reason for which my son took his life was indeed as a result of his job being outsourced."

"Did he blame India for his job loss? No. He blamed the "system." He couldn't understand why Americans are losing jobs. Rather I should say he understood it economically, but not emotionally," Flanagan said.

Bank officials, who did not return calls relating to Flanagan's death, have said in the past that the deal with Indian companies would effect no more than 5 per cent of the bank's 21,000 employees, or about 1,100 jobs, in its technology and operations division.

According to some surveys, the US has lost at least 800,000 jobs in the past year and some 3.3 million jobs will move overseas over the next few years because of outsourcing, mostly to India.

The Bank has also acknowledged that it had asked local workers to train foreigners because such knowledge transfer was essential. According to Tom Flanagan, his son was "totally disgusted" with the fact that he and his fellow-workers had to train foreigners to do his job so they could take over. "That sir is a travesty," he said in one e-mail.

US tech workers are challenging the corporate world's claim that it is outsourcing work to improve bottomlines and efficiency. Some analysts have also pointed out that US corporations were being forced to tighten up by the same people who are moaning about outsourcing, and who, heavily invested in the stock market, demand better performance.

But on one website that discussed the Flanagan case, a tech worker pointed out that data processing consumed only a small per cent of revenues and was hardly a drain on the Bank's profit.

"(It is) a prosperous bank which has let greed trump any sense of patriotism or social responsibility," he fumed.

[Drango]

another great link... nomoreh1b

[waterstraat]

Plus many of the campesinos lost their ability to make a living because even though Mexico has much cheaper labor, they cannot compete with US farmers

How many of the fruits and vegetables do you see in the stores that are farmed in America? Not many here anymore.

[waterstraat]

another great link... nomoreh1b

Thanks for the link! (I hope that Bank of America looses a ton of money from its bankrupt customers who lost their jobs from being outsourced)

[Cacique]

bump

[Walkin Man]

Another lackey for corporate interests. The Dinos and Rinos should merge and form the transnational corporate party and stop pretending to be Americans.

I agree. I wish those free traitors on Capital Hill gave as much a da*n about American workers and their problems as workers in India!

Who are these people representing anyway, cause it sure as h*ll ain't Americans?!

[bigfootbob]

"Happy now Jay?"

As a matter of fact he probably is. Belly up to the bar boys and write your checks to my PAC or we won't play ball.

[FR_addict]

Thanks for the post.

I would like to create a list of Congressmen supporting Visas and outsourcing.

I am tired of the short-sidedness of those who favor keeping these policies. Top execs are lining their pockets, while the companies engaging in these practices are actually stagnating and product quality is suffering.

I work in a company where most of the workers are on Visas. I was laid off for 2 years in this field. The previous company started using a high number of Visa and offshore workers. The last company is not in any better shape than when they first started this practice. However, the execs continued to pull down their high salaries during the same time frame.

Members of Congress must be taking bribes. I know there are kickbacks involved in the corporate world where the execs are selling America out to line their pockets.

I think we need to organize a campaign to change these practices before it is too late. I was talking to one of the Indians Visa workers. He said there were plenty of jobs in India right now. He then started bragging that India would be the software capital of the world in 10 years.

I said I was going to try and get the laws in this country changed about the outsourcing of our jobs. I really want to do something to stop this.

I'm tired of the Freepers out there that haven't been affected looking down on those of us who have been affected. If we bring up the Visa and offshore issues, we are said to be whining.

To find the job I have now, I had to take a job away from my family. We are in the middle of layoffs at my new company. I don't know if I will be laid off again or not. This is no way for working class America to have to live. I would like to go home on the weekends, but I work extra on the weekends (without pay) to keep my job.

[BlazingArizona]

If it only was restricted to computer programers... Accounting firms are outsourcing, radiology is now being handled overseas, even the work handled by stock analysts are being performed by those living outside our borders. Nothing will be done until legal work is also handled outside our borders.

But hey, what other country can claim a homeless population that can administer databases and set up commerce websites?

[Drango]

I would like to create a list of Congressmen supporting Visas and outsourcing.

Here it is... www.betterimmigration.com

[Drango]

Another great site for anyone seeking more information... www.h1b.info

[kms61]

Take away all those taxes and hidden costs and American wages will still not be competitive with India.

Bottom line...Corporations will do what they perceive to be in their best interest, and that may not always coincide with what's in the best interest of America. Such a divergence is occurring now, with the acquiescence of the US government.

[FR_addict]

Thanks a lot for these links.

I hadn't seen these before.

I wish some of the Freepers here would get together to fight this and make others aware of the problem.

[RockyMtnMan]

Nothing will be done until legal work is also handled outside our borders.

My understanding is that the bulk of the work is done by para-legals and that is what is being outsourced.

[RockyMtnMan]

Tancredo is an A+, thanks for the link.

[philetus]

That's right Jay, you pr*ck.
Your not losing your job.

[Dr Warmoose]

All of this so that some CEO can collect a bigger multi-million dollar bonus this year? Do the shareholders really understand the short-term dividend gain and the inevitable long-term loss?

This is the ideology of the Libertarian Party, especially that of their radio-spokesperson Neal Boortz. On many occasions, his attitude is identical to the "free traitors" in that he doesn't care if his neighbors are out of work as long as he can save a few bucks here and there. Furthermore, one of his favorite things to brag about is that he is trying to make enough money "to outrun" the national financial ruin that he has been advocating.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Thanks, I don't listen much to the Libertarians.
I believe that what built America and will continue to make us strong are our moral compass and our ethics.
"I've got mine" has been a growing weak character trait. The nation of "barn builders" and "helping hands" is being replaced by "I've got mine". It will soon be the whine "I lost mine". Even the completely amoral and selfish need to be made to see the national security risks of offshoring our high-tech.
You might be interested in these links:

Here's Phyllis Schafly with some more good info:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/phyllisschlafly/ps20030602.shtml

I'm glad to see this issue getting into the news more and more. Some of the dangers to offshoring/outsourcing are still not being addressed. Although Lieberman gives it a try:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/922087/posts