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[MonroeDNA]

Take Action! Contact Rep. Inslee about IT offshoring

Representative Jay Inslee of Washington state says he does not think that offshore outsourcing of U.S. tech jobs is a problem. On a recent tour in India, he told Indian reporters and business leaders that he believes any U.S. state or federal legislation that aims to limit the transfer of U.S. jobs overseas will not go anywhere. He also discounted concerns about such offshoring among U.S. tech workers, saying, "People are worried about job security in the U.S. and therefore it is not terribly surprising to find a few people who will oppose outsourcing to other countries."

We think there are more than a few of us who oppose the wholesale shipment of tens of thousands of good IT jobs abroad, especially jobs that are paid for by U.S. taxpayer-funded projects. Please send a message to Rep. Inslee and help us to let him know that this is an issue of concern to consituents in his district, hundreds of thousands of IT workers throughout the United States, and millions of U.S. citizens.

Your message will be emailed to Rep. Inslee. While we have provided a sample letter, we encourage you to modify and customize this message, or swap it out with one of your own. Details about your own experiences in the tech industry will make your letter more powerful.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

(Edit Letter Below) I am writing because I am increasingly concerned about the escalating practice of moving U.S.-based information technology (IT) and other computer service jobs abroad. I am aware that you have supported offshoring of IT jobs, particularly to India, and I'm strongly suggesting that you reconsider your position.

I understand from the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers and Forrester Research report that over the next 15 years 3.3 million U.S. service industry jobs and $136 billion in wages will likely move offshore to countries such as India, Russia, China, and the Philippines. The IT industry is already leading the initial exodus, with legal, accounting, and other sectors to follow.

Whether in highly visible corporations like Microsoft, or as part of other businesses such as an insurance company, IT work has fueled the aspirations of many local communities as well. It is in large part responsible for wealth creation in our country. While economic globalization may prove beneficial to multinational corporations, it is not at all clear that it will benefit most workers here or abroad. It is one thing to have access to cheaper goods, as globalization promises; it is another to have the jobs to pay for them. What we need for our future and security is for our jobs at all skill levels to stay here.

What is the future of our country if so many of our jobs, including government IT jobs, are moving offshore? It looks to me like a race to the bottom, with few social safety nets for the many workers who will be displaced.

My issue is not with IT workers in other countries, but with the practice of moving these jobs abroad with no apparent concern for U.S. workers, many of whom are highly trained and are now out of work.

Because this emerging issue is so important to our future, I urge you to support calls for an immediate congressional investigation into IT offshoring. We need to look much more closely at the ramifications of this disturbing trend -- on U.S. workers, the communities in which they live, and the future economic and technological security of this country.

For your research, I've included the following links:

Perilous Currents in the Offshore Shift http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_05/b3818051.htm

A new report projects federal spending on information technology outsourcing services will increase from $6.6 billion to nearly $15 billion by fiscal 2007. http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/outsourcing/19754-1.html

The New HP Way: World's Cheapest Consultants http://www.forbes.com/2002/12/05/cz_qh_1205hp.html

Forrester Research reference http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/1503461

[MonroeDNA]

I will investigate him.

If he is anti-union, then yes, I will throw bucks his way.

[MonroeDNA]

Anyone who hates unions gets my money.

[MonroeDNA]

See tagline.

[sarcasm]

MonroeDNA - Supporter of socialists.

[MonroeDNA]

Right....see tagline

[MonroeDNA]

MonroeDNA: Supporter of individual freedom. HATES unions. Supporter of anyone who hates unions.

[sarcasm]

Are you also contributing to the DNC this year?

[sarcasm]

Take a look at what your hero contributes to:

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$50,000	10/15/2002	Dues
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$20,000	10/24/2002	dues
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$15,000	5/12/2002	Dues
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$15,000	9/26/2002	Dues
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$10,000	6/29/2001	Donation
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$338	7/31/2001	inkind fundraising supplies
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$250	12/13/2001	inkind - research materials
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$238	6/30/2001	inkind fundraising services
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$114	3/8/2002	inkind fundraising
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$114	10/7/2002	Inkind fundraising services
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$97	4/19/2002	inkind- research materials
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$91	11/30/2002	inkind fundraising services
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$88	6/19/2002	inkind- research materials
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$84	12/14/2001	inkind - fundraising services
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$78	5/15/2002	inkind- research materials
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$74	8/22/2002	inkind fundraising services
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$68	7/17/2002	inkind fundraising services
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$28	12/31/2001	inkind fundraising
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$19	2/8/2002	inkind fundraising
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$13	9/13/2002	Inkind fundraising services
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Washi	$9	9/17/2001	Inkind - Fundraising Services
source

[Dan from Michigan]

He's a gun grabbing jerk that carpetbagged from another district when he lost in 94.

[OldFashionedAmerican]

This is NOT just a Union-based issue. I work for a major corporation that is compeletely non-union, and we have a number of foreign co-ops that are developing IT applications, and we have no real idea as to the actual number of IT jobs that have already been outsourced to other countries.

This practice is Capitalism to its ultra extreme, where the Corporation does not care WHO does the work, or who gets hurt, (American IT workers) as long as they can get it cheaper somewhere else. I repeat, this in NOT just a Union issue. If you don't care that your kids may not be able to pursue a career in IT simply because our wage scales are higher than in foreign countries, then I can understand your position: 'That's just too bad that my kid can not get such a job because someone is willing to do it cheaper elsewhere'.

Interesting. Should we also depend upon having our military equipment designed, produced, delivered, and technically supported by foreign countries if they can do it cheaper?? I don't think so. Believe me, in the same vein, there should be some serious security questions concerning so-called American corporations that permit sensitive IT applications to be developed by foreign nationals.

[OldFashionedAmerican]

Call it what you will; anyone who belives that people should get rewarded based on ANYTHING other than individual merit, is anti-American.

You are fooling yourself if you think this is a 'Merit' issue. It is a wage-scale issue. Big difference. They (Foreigners) can do it cheaper, so the Corporation, in their new 'One World' type liberal thinking, give them the work, and the hell with the higher-priced, certainly equally talented, IT workers in the U.S.

Capitalistic mantras, when spouted like a race horse wearing blinders, WITHOUT taking into consideration the situation as a whole, can be as undesirable as pure Socialism.

[RockyMtnMan]

Conservatives are split on the issue of trade. Please identify how protecting markets from foreign powers is bad, other than the usual price nonsense.