Posted on 06/04/2003 5:02:29 PM PDT by 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. ________________________
(the suggested letter:)
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...
Been here for over 5 years, this is my 4th article posted.
Freegards.
I back it, and I'm no tool of anybody, anyone or any union...or you.
It's a responsibility to our shareholders and customers to pay no more than we have to for the work we need.
I hate unions but they are welcome to join many of us Freepers in opposing H-1Bs, L1s and outsourcing. It really is a bi-partisan issue.
Bottom line; there are over a million legal foreign workers here on visas. When we have so many people unemployed and ready to go to work why are we cutting our own throat?
Hope you get a chance to personally boost the Indian economy and add to somebody else's bottom line some day soon.
Thank you for your kind words. Feel better now?
If you feel that it is not your responsibility to help your community or that somehow all will work out; or if you subscribe to the idea that every company take care of their bottom line first and not the people that make up the company than,you are not an American.
America is an an Ideal....not an economic theory.
I do what I can to support the ideas America was founded on, which is above all individual Freedom; let the individual decide what is best for themselves. That was the philosophy of my ancestors, President's Adams, Adams, and Monroe. It was Reagan's principle philoshophy, too.
"While Microsoft shareholders may be Americans they are a small minority...."
So?
" The employment of American workers and the ancillary effects on communities benefits Americans first..."
Did you just say, "employment of Americans benefits Americans?" If so, then thanks for stating the obvious. Feeding Americans benefits Americans, too. In fact, clipping the toenails of Americans benefits Americans.
" If you feel that it is not your responsibility to help your community..."
I donate a lot more to my community than you do, trust me. I also employ more than you, too. Of course, I am "rich management," and won't employ unionists, under any circumstances.
"...or that somehow all will work out..."
It will if you are for American values, including hard work, individual responsibility, and being thankful to your employer, for allowing to be employed. It is not a right, you know. I hire and fire based on individual performance. Some hate that, but they are the lazy freeloaders, usually dumb as a box of rocks. The rest love it, and are rewarded greatly. Based soley on performance, nothing else.
... or if you subscribe to the idea that every company take care of their bottom line first..."
Of course I subscribe to that. Companies are not in business to be altruistic. Companies are there to make money. Including mine. If you want to force companies to be altrusitic, be prepared for a low standard of living, like they have in France. Better yet, just proclaim your love for socialism, and move there. Have fun in your cramped house, and filthy streets. We capitalist individual freedom lovers will be fine.
"...and not the people that make up the company than,you are not an American..."
One of us is not an American, but it certainly is not me. I understand the principles this country was founded on, and it is not to close our borders and unionize, to protect "jobs."
Let me be perfectly frank: Anyone who supports unionizing, and closing our borders to trade, is absolutely un-American.
But would do well in Germany and France.
" America is an an Ideal....not an economic theory."
Actually, economic theory here is derived from the ideal. Let people make their own choices, leave them alone, and prosperity follows. Reagan knew this. I suggest you study him.
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