Tech Workers Combat Offshoring

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• Reader Comments (13)

  Page 1 of 1 pages

  I think corporations have the right idea about outsourcing jobs.  I’m sure there are men and women in India who would be happy to work for a fraction of what an American CEO makes.  Think of all the money that would be left over!

  Posted by Matt Dietzen on Jan 27, 2004 at 9:12 AM

  Well I for one think that outsourcing jobs to India is an excellent idea.  There are plenty of men and women willing to work as CEOs and CFOs for a fraction of what their American counterparts make.

  Posted by Matt Dietzen on Jan 27, 2004 at 9:14 AM

  I live in Washington State and I work in the Tech industry. It has become increasingly difficult to find employment and if your lucky enough to find a job its more than safe to assume your going to get paid half of what it should pay. Corporations should be made more liable

  Posted by Jason Davis on Jan 27, 2004 at 8:06 PM

  I live in Washington State and I work in the Tech industry. It has become increasingly difficult to find employment and if your lucky enough to find a job its more than safe to assume your going to get paid half of what it should pay. Corporations should be made more liable

  Posted by Jason Davis on Jan 27, 2004 at 8:06 PM

  If you look at the corporations who are doing this sort of offshoring, you will notice that it is primarily large multinational corporations that are based in the US. These corporations are assumed to be “American companies”, however I think this is primarily because the USA is the world’s biggest market. I am a computer programmer myself however I choose to be self employed rather than work for one of these monster companies which will offer no job security whatsoever. My job description is not neatly defined by a corporate business model, but is based on consulting and designing products that have a useful purpose solving problems for non technical people.

  If I were to be represented within a labor organization, I would need to be in a tech guild, not a tech union. I can understand why WashTech would go after the largest corporations in the world and try to organize them, but I think that it makes them a single issue organization which will alienate anyone like myself who does not feel threatened by offshoring. Realistically, there is a huge diversity of skills and knowledge available to work in the computer science field and all it takes patience and determination to get the job done right. I am sure there are plenty of people who work in an environment which is non technical, providing technical solutions to other people. I am sure that within the organization they work in, the tech employees are few. Was the In These Times website developed by IBM, Microsoft or any other big offshoring company? Probably not.  If there were a Chicago based organization that assisted tech people in developing their skills and sharing resources in the same way that the open source/ Linux movement does but with a better perspective on business as well as technology, I would be one of the first people to sign up. I am not going to join WashTech because I do not want to join an organization that does not represent my interests as a top priority. I am also not joining WashTech because I have seen no evidence that Offshoring is a sweatshop type issue that I need to be concerned about.

  Posted by Nick Berveiler on Jan 28, 2004 at 6:45 AM

  This is just another unfortunate consequence of a global economy as corporations shift production and service jobs to countries with a lower cost of labor. As these jobs leave it hurts this nation as a whole. Will it at some point trigger a lower standard of livng nation wide resulting in a loss of purchasing power to the average consumer? History will someday determine whether this strategy makes good long term sense or was just another attempt to boost short term profitability to satisfy investors. As a business strategy will it be considerd visionary or just myopic? Time will tell.

  Posted by jeff on Jan 28, 2004 at 6:19 PM

  This is just another unfortunate consequence of a global economy as corporations shift production and service jobs to countries with a lower cost of labor. As these jobs leave it hurts this nation as a whole. Will it at some point trigger a lower standard of livng nation wide resulting in a loss of purchasing power to the average consumer? History will someday determine whether this strategy makes good long term sense or was just another attempt to boost short term profitability to satisfy investors. As a business strategy will it be considerd visionary or just myopic? Time will tell.

  Posted by jeff on Jan 28, 2004 at 6:20 PM

  I remember when the tech. revolution came to Seattle. The general attitude of the “yup” tech classes was pro-corporate, anti-labor. I recall many discussions with such people about futire mega-trends, gobilization and the obsolescence of organized labor and their own job security becasue of the high skills they posessed that were needed for the “new economy”.  Some of them even saw themselves as a kind of high-tech aristocracy ruling over a society of techno-peasants.  Well, it served the purposes of the real corporate aristocrasy to let them believe that until they had created the means of training and educating their replacements.  I read an e-mail from a fellow named Nick.  Nick believes he is immune to out-sourcing becasue he works on creative end of things.  This may be true, but consider this: First we exported the means of production.  Next we began exporting industrial labor. Now we are exporting service and technical labor. Planning is in the works to begin importing low-wage labor now. Skilled and technical labor is also being imported on a limited basis now.  President Bush wants to allow any American company to import workers for any job and American won’t take (reads:cut wages).  The Ancient Greeks didn’t believe that the future was something ahead of them. Rather, they thought of it as something comming swiftly from behind.  Look over your shoulder Nick.

  Posted by ed clark on Jan 29, 2004 at 12:16 AM

  I remember when the tech. revolution came to Seattle. The general attitude of the “yup” tech classes was pro-corporate, anti-labor. I recall many discussions with such people about futire mega-trends, gobilization and the obsolescence of organized labor and their own job security becasue of the high skills they posessed that were needed for the “new economy”.  Some of them even saw themselves as a kind of high-tech aristocracy ruling over a society of techno-peasants.  Well, it served the purposes of the real corporate aristocrasy to let them believe that until they had created the means of training and educating their replacements.  I read an e-mail from a fellow named Nick.  Nick believes he is immune to out-sourcing becasue he works on creative end of things.  This may be true, but consider this: First we exported the means of production.  Next we began exporting industrial labor. Now we are exporting service and technical labor. Planning is in the works to begin importing low-wage labor now. Skilled and technical labor is also being imported on a limited basis now.  President Bush wants to allow any American company to import workers for any job and American won’t take (reads:cut wages).  The Ancient Greeks didn’t believe that the future was something ahead of them. Rather, they thought of it as something comming swiftly from behind.  Look over your shoulder Nick.

  Posted by ed clark on Jan 29, 2004 at 12:16 AM

  I remember when the tech. revolution came to Seattle. The general attitude of the “yup” tech classes was pro-corporate, anti-labor. I recall many discussions with such people about futire mega-trends, gobilization and the obsolescence of organized labor and their own job security becasue of the high skills they posessed that were needed for the “new economy”.  Some of them even saw themselves as a kind of high-tech aristocracy ruling over a society of techno-peasants.  Well, it served the purposes of the real corporate aristocrasy to let them believe that until they had created the means of training and educating their replacements.  I read an e-mail from a fellow named Nick.  Nick believes he is immune to out-sourcing becasue he works on creative end of things.  This may be true, but consider this: First we exported the means of production.  Next we began exporting industrial labor. Now we are exporting service and technical labor. Planning is in the works to begin importing low-wage labor now. Skilled and technical labor is also being imported on a limited basis now.  President Bush wants to allow any American company to import workers for any job and American won’t take (reads:cut wages).  The Ancient Greeks didn’t believe that the future was something ahead of them. Rather, they thought of it as something comming swiftly from behind.  Look over your shoulder Nick.

  Posted by edclark on Jan 29, 2004 at 12:22 AM

  Ed Clark provides us with an example of US centric attitudes that dominate this argument. These are all US jobs and no one else can have them, Right? Don’t all of these offshoring companies also do business in Europe? Where is the European outrage over offshoring? The EU is currently fighting the anti-trust practices of Microsoft. The involvement of the US government in offshoring is a somewhat bigger issue, however I think it just demonstrates the fact that the government is in bed with big business.

  I don’t fear Outsourcing because I don’t think that the mainstream US business ideology is the best and only solution to all our problems. I have seen the Open Source / Linux movement effectively change the business climate by competing against Microsoft with free and open software and they are winning.

  The way that corporations operate in general is a far bigger threat than just the layoffs to low wage countries. I think that Intelectual Property rights are a bigger threat to tech workers than outsourcing is because it locks out small organizations from even competing.

  If these companies weren’t offshoring, everything would be fine, like it was in Seattle at the beginning of the tech boom, right Ed?

  Posted by Nick Berveiler on Jan 29, 2004 at 2:04 AM

  I think Carly Fiorina should outsource her own job.

  Posted by Frank Fowler on Feb 24, 2004 at 4:56 PM

  Everybody who is concerned about OFFSHORING needs to support the following pieces of legislation which are TODAY working their way through Congress. 
  Senator Chris Dodd’s S2094, S1452. Congresswoman Rosa Delauro’s HR2702, HR3820.
  Congresswoman Nancy Johnson’s HR2849
  Details can be found at ...
  http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/g_three_sections_with_teasers/ /legislativ
  e_home.htm?STATUS+of+HR322+BILL+to+REDUCE+H1B’s=

  Posted by Walter Nodelman on Feb 26, 2004 at 10:26 PM

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