Posted on 05/26/2003 3:51:30 PM PDT by Lessismore
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.
I hope you can now see how and why I consider yours to be a faulty argument. If not, please correct me or say why.
I didnt make the argument. In fact the statement above about "I am sick of Americans thinking that they are intitled to employment without competition" is not something I believe I said in my post or anywhere on this thread. So unless you went into the archives and found something I said in the past, please correct the record. I didnt say it.
This issue is troubling me more and more. Generally I favor Globalism and the right of corporation to spend its money on resources the way it prefers. However, I'm beginning to see that belief has consequences and we as a country need to figure out what we are going to do with huge chunks of people in their 40's and 50's who due to low wages in Asia are now faced with oblivion unless they reinvent themselves.
Don't make that mistake. Do what you love, the compensation will follow.
It also fosters an intolerance of BS and an appreciation of logic. Unfortunately, it also produces asocial, libertine geeks.
Anyway, I'm an illustrator now, but I'm glad that I took classes in Fluid Mechanics rather than Modern Art.
I've got my eye on a small Catholic college in NH that charges everyone $10k/year. The cost of a college tuition is wildly inflated beyond its meager value. The college industry is the biggest scam going.
Of course they were. Companies train their workers in skills they need to do the job, why shouldn't the military. Then their is the little detail that part of the job is getting shot at with (more or less) high tech kamikazie robots.
That said, I've always thought the Navy aviation community puts entirely too much emphasis on the process of landing. Sure they have a much more difficult problem with that than when they land on a nice huge fixed runway, but in the end it's a technical detail. Sort of like the IT function at a manufacturing company. Bombs on target and enemy aircraft shot down is the bottom line for military aviation. Well and cargo delievered where it's needed.
Getting out at 20+ means that Pukin Dog wasn't willing to compete for the leadership slots. Nothing wrong with that, I'm not much into "management" myself.
There essentially are no airline slots right now, except at the likes of Southwest. Judging by the way they slam those 737s onto the runway, I think they must hire lots of ex Navy pilots. (That's a joke son!)
You are not paying attention. Companies are not training anyone (american, that is) anymore. Even skilled professionals with previous experience who require no training can't get jobs for half of their previous pay.
It is an issue that has really always been part of the world. In the thirties, farmers were severely affected by drought. In the fifties and sixties, auto workers were affected by the import of foreign cars. In the mid 18th century, sheep and flax farmers were devastated by the increased growth and the improvements in the area of cotton harvesting.
The issue is much larger than *offshoring*. Should technological improvements be halted so that jobs can be protected? Where would the world be today if cotton poduction had been controlled? (Scratching themselves to death at their computer terminals, LOL).
It is not the place of the government to solve the problem of layed-off workers. The country provides 39 weeks of unemployment and most people know when a layoff is coming.
It is the job of parents to teach their children that there are no guarantees in life and that they must be adaptible and they must be experienced in basic survival.
No, but it often has a really hard time keeping them. A problem the Navy has with more than just pilots. The pilots are the most expensive to train though, so as a taxpayer you want to balance the cost of retention over the cost to train new pilots. That said the retention problem is mostly not a matter of pay, but rather what would be called "working conditions" in other lines of work. That in turn is because the government is trying to do more with less people, less ships, and less airplanes. Democrats want to spend the money elsewhere, like buying votes, and Republicans don't want to spend the money at all. Until the bear is at the door that is.
Straight out of the Marxist handbook..... Where is it that you think the "Rich" companies make their money from? It ain't from hiring cheaper labor, it's from the American consumer. You think the big wigs at GMC want to lower our standard of living so we will all buy Cavaliers?
When you understand how the economy works, you no longer fall for the Union line that there is only so much money out there, and therefor, for the rich to have more, someone has to make less.....
There is a reason why young people are such a sought-after market demographics--they're ignorant and lack foresight!
For some, it pays off. But the house always wins.
You can't put it any better or more succinctly than that.
Another thing to keep an eye on is the University of Phoenix phenomenon. It may blow the top off of this criminal enterprise:
Frank Moretti of Columbia University refers to the changes as the "third great paradigmatic shift in learning history." Roger Schank of Northwestern says that "universities are, in many ways, fraudulent."...The University of Phoenix is the world's largest virtual university, and it's sending shock waves through the ivory towers. Discover why...
You don't know what's more pathetic? I'll tell you what's more pathetic, it's the companies and corporations that no longer have one shred of allegiance, or patriotism to America or it's people. It's a sell out of American's and our economy. These companies could care less about Americans.
They are literally spitting in the faces of the American people, the people that made these companies great.
Look, I won't deny that from a MICROeconomic standpoint of a worker, who's job is exported, it sux. But it is better for the overall economy in the long run. Progress hurts sometimes. Does that mean we should stagnate for the sake of comfort?
However, I care not for any "authority."
Yet, you advocate government controls that limit business practices to your ideal model.
If, then, there is no "authority" deciding how these controls should be put in place, whom do you propose should be the designer of your "Keep American Jobs for Americans" system?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.