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.
If you are one of the biggest banks in the country are you really going to outsource projects that are mission critical and involve huge transactions of money to some shmoe in India or God knows where?
Talk about the Mother Of All Backdoors.
BTW - I hear that the trend in IT is away from outsourcing.
As for the guy that sucked the gun, well, I don't approve but I can understand. Especially if I had to train my replacement.
Two decades in the Navy. How about private sector? How would you do if they flooded us with Indian pilots? They have close to a billion people over there. I am sure there would be a sufficient number of pilots who are as qualified as you. How would you be saving money then? No, I would say I am just clueless.
I would say so, too. I specially enjoyed how you suggested that he should go over your house to show you how to turn your pc on. Cool.
Have a nice day.
You, too. Unless you have other plans.
For me it was keeping up my child support payments. Try telling the friend of the court you want to pay less so you can take a pay cut, and they throw you in jail! This whole thread is based on a very complicated situation, and yes, suicide is not the answer.
Several? I live in NYC, and practically everyone I know got laid off from the IT jobs. Those who didn't are considered to be *very* lucky. Unless you are in the industry you don't realize how bad it became. I lost my job in 2001 and it took me over a year to find the job I have today. I was looking for any job that paid $10 or better, too.
Here's the kicker, at least the guy you refer to has the option to go back to his home country, where he'll pick up a job probably making more (by local standards) than if he just stayed in India. For the U.S. born tech, no such option exists. If tech jobs dry up in this country, his options are limited.
Another thing I heard (maybe someone else knows more) is that in India, higher education is subsudized and people are generously rewarded for going into the technical fields.
Also, to note, most of the untouchables have either converted to another religion, or simply wound up lying about there caste long long ago to the point no one really knows whos what anymore. If you can find somone who claims to be from the untouchable caste, good luck and more power to you.
Watch how fast the congress critters scramble to head that one off. They will move when it's their livelihood on the line.
Correction, they have over a billion people there as of now.....and growing.
You raise a good question. Clearly the answer is more trade protectionism by the US, including higher tariffs, quotas and tighter government regulation of our labor markets. After all, free markets simply exploit working families for the benefit of the rich. We need to be careful not to fall for those misleading arguments put forth by mean spirited conservatives that a rising-tide raises all boats and that situations like this are not a question of zero-sum gain.
Furthermore, the unfortunate loss of life by the displaced worker is clear indication that we need more gun control now.
Exactly!! What many of these people fail to realize is that if the standard of living keeps falling for everyone else, eventually their's will also fall. Either that or they'll be living in a gated community with private security forces to keep the rabble out. No great country can survive without a strong middle class.
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