Protests against Outsourcing
Protests against Outsourcing
Date: Thursday, September 18, 2003 1:29 PM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
www.ZaZona.com
Several protests against offshoring have occurred recently.
On Sept. 16, there was a protest in San Francisco outside of a Hyatt
Regency hotel where an outsourcing conference was held.
On September 2 protests were held in various Bank of America locations
to protest outsourcing and the Kevin Flanagan suicide.
You can see photos of the Concord BofA protest here:
http://www.governorken.org/events/bofa/
Information about the Texas BofA protest can be found here:
http://www.american-champions.org/Activity/BankOfAmericaProtest/
It's encouraging that unions are still willing to stand beside these
distraught techies. For decades techies have been downright hostile
towards unions, but now they are realizing that if they are to stem the
tide of job loss, they need to be organized, and unions have
traditionally been the only way for workers to band together.
http://silicon.com/news/500021/1/6047.html
Wed 17 September 2003 12:35PM BST
Silicon Valley hit by outsourcing protests
Unions and jobless techies picket conference
A two-day conference instructing companies on moving technology jobs
and other work overseas drew picketers, in one of the first San
Francisco Bay Area protests over a growing trend that's shaking up the
entire computer industry.
A group of about 50 labour organisers and out-of-work techies gathered
at 8:30 am on Tuesday in front of the Hyatt Regency hotel here, where
conference organiser Brainstorm Group is holding its Nearshore and
Offshore Outsourcing Conference this week.
The one-hour demonstration was organised by a chapter of the
Communications Workers of America (CWA) union. Picketers held signs
that read: "Stop Off Shoring!" and elicited honks of support from
drivers passing by on Bayshore Highway.
"It's time for us to come together in solidarity because jobs are
leaving California and the United States like never before and it's
because of outsourcing," Cary Snyder, an unemployed hardware and
systems engineer, said in a speech to the crowd.
The exodus of information technology jobs out of Silicon Valley and the
US to foreign countries is certainly on the rise. Forrester Research
estimated that the number of US computer jobs moving overseas will grow
from about 27,000 in 2000 to more than 472,000 by 2015.
The Bay Area is ground zero for this trend, with companies here,
including Sun Microsystems, Oracle and Hewlett-Packard, among those
leading the way with plans to increase their staff in countries such as
India and Russia. Those countries have cheap, plentiful and highly
skilled labour markets. They also have more relaxed environmental and
labour regulations than in the US and Europe, said a representative of
the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, one of the speakers at the
protest.
And tech companies aren't the only ones looking to trim costs by
tapping foreign labour markets. According to research firm Gartner,
more than 300 of the Fortune 500 firms tap IT services companies in
India to run their data centers and call centers.
Executive interest in the annual outsourcing conference, which is in
its fourth year, has only grown, said Gregg Rock, president and founder
of Brainstorm Group. About 250 local businesspeople are attending the
conference this week, which is double the number from two years ago,
Rock told reporters in the Hyatt lobby after the protest.
Brainstorm Group held an outsourcing conference in Chicago in April and
has another one scheduled for New York in November. Rock said Tuesday
was the first time protesters had ever targeted one of his events.
He said he empathizes with those who have lost jobs but that there's no
turning back. "The genie's out of the bottle on offshore outsourcing,"
he said, adding that three per cent to four per cent of IT budgets
nationally are already earmarked for foreign labour.
It's up to the government, not businesses, to handle the fallout of
this shift, Rock said. "Businesses will go the path of least resistance
and greatest savings."
Like the related concept of economic globalisation, offshore
outsourcing has become a controversial issue in recent years, drawing
rancour from activists and displaced workers. Others, particularly
businesses, either sing its praises or view it as an unavoidable
economic reality.
But the issue is not a new one, even in the IT industry. Many US
companies began turning to India and other countries in search of
computer programmers for their Y2K projects and again during the
dot-com boom, when workers with computer skills in this country were a
scarce resource.
Now, with unemployment in the US lingering at decades highs despite
recent indications that the economy is pulling out of its global slump,
the outsourcing debate has grown louder. The exodus of IT jobs to other
countries, according to analysts, is exacerbating, if not causing this
painful new phenomenon known as the 'jobless recovery'.
"Offshoring is really destroying the community here," said Shelley
Kessler, a representative of the Central Labour Council of San Mateo
County. "Shame on these corporations for the things they're doing."
Labour unions face an uphill battle gaining a foothold in an industry
that has been indifferent, if not hostile, to organised labour.
"Unions are the answer for sure," Snyder said. "It's time for
white-collar workers to join the blue-collar workers and protect our
collective interests."
Alorie Gilbert writes for CNET News.com
http://www.techsunite.org/news/tech/030917_sfprotest.cfm
September 17, 2003
sf Tech Workers, Unions Protest Offshore Outsourcing Conference
WashTech News
By Jeff Nachtigal
Photo by Tony Jazvo, CWA Local 9423
Tech workers and union activists protest outside an outsourcing
conference near San Francisco
San Francisco - Bay Area high-tech workers upset about the unrelenting
rush of U.S. jobs to foreign countries staged a noisy sidewalk protest
yesterday morning at a conference promoting the practice of shipping
U.S. jobs abroad in order to save on labor costs.
Picketing on the sidewalk in front of a glittering new Hyatt Regency
hotel just south of the San Francisco Airport, nearly 50 protestors
armed with signs and ardent voices cried, "Offshore CEOs" and "Chip in,
dont chip out" as they marched in unison, angrily calling for
government and corporations to curtail offshore outsourcing, which they
say will lead to a crippled U.S. economy.
Behind closed curtains, the Offshore Outsourcing Conference featured
outsourcing "thought leaders" who briefed corporate executives about
the pros and cons of offshoring.
This was the second high-tech worker protest within the past month,
following a Labor Day protest at the Bank of America IT building in
Concord, Calif., where a high-tech worker took his life this summer,
shortly after training his foreign replacement and then promptly
receiving a pink slip.
High-tech workers and labor leaders want to publicize the steady flow
of U.S. jobs to countries such as India, Pakistan and Russia all
countries that offer cheap labor for software programming, customer
service call routing and other technical jobs. Many of these jobs were
also once held by now-unemployed U.S. workers.
Nearly 400,000 white collar jobs have already been lost due to the
increasingly common business practice of offshore outsourcing,
according to the Communications Workers of America. The CWA estimates
that an additional three million white collar jobs now located in the
United States will be lost to overseas competition by the year 2012.
"This globalization undermines fair trade and creates wealth for
companies, but poverty for their employees all over the world," Shelly
Kessler, Executive Secretary Treasurer of the San Mateo Labor Council,
told a fired-up crowd.
"Offshoring of technical jobs is destroying our communities and local
economy and we think when workers pull together to protect against
unfair competition we all do better," said Joshua Sperry, who organized
the protest and is a labor organizer for CWA Local 9423 in San Jose.
"We think that the tech workers in the Silicon Valley need their own
voice," Sperry said.
The organizer of the Offshore Outsourcing Conference said that because
the cost savings associated with offshoring are so significant,
companies are now unwilling to "buy U.S."
"Im very compassionate about what theyre about, but I think we
need some government legislation if were going to see a major trend
shift," said conference organizer Gregg V. Rock.
"I think it was a trend that was sped up due to different market
conditions and the dot-com bubble, but I dont think theres any
going back at this point the genies out of the bottle on
offshoring," Rock said after the protest ended.
Labor leaders say the effects of offshoring, aside from leaving huge
numbers of information technology workers out of work, could be
catastrophic for the U.S. economy because fewer college students are
choosing high-tech career paths for fear of not finding jobs when they
graduate.
One of the loudest protesters was Cary Snyder, 46, a 20-year veteran of
Silicon Valley. Snyder said his current unemployment check doesnt
cover his rent, and with two kids, moving away for a new job isnt an
option. Snyder said his 18-year-old son always considered high-tech for
a career, but Snyder has advised him to go into civil engineering if he
wants better job prospects after college.
"I feel I have a civil and moral duty to get the word out. I never
thought of myself as a union activist," Snyder said, "but after seeing
the high-tech industry do this, now Im involved."
"Its gonna hurt the U.S. economy and will perpetuate the offshoring
because they will have crippled their own industry," Snyder said about
U.S. businesses that are sending jobs overseas. "Getting a job in
high-tech is a really poor proposition right now. I know hundreds
personally and thousands more who are in the same boat as me."
After five years of employment with Intel and a move from New Jersey to
San Diego last year to continue working for the company Chris Basak,
48, is now unemployed. He says he will move on to another career
perhaps as an X-ray technician if he cant find a tech job within
the year.
"This issue is absolutely important; this trend is very scary, a lot of
my friends are out of work because their jobs have been offshored,"
said Basak, who drove from San Diego just to attend the hour-long
event.
Alliance@IMB/CWA union member Kathy Forte, 54, one of about a dozen
women present at the protest, wondered aloud what would happen to her
and her 11-year old son if she lost her job at IBM to the offshoring
trend.
"I dont want to come off as a selfish person, but what about my son
and my fellow co-workers? Im not sure what Id do if I lost my
job, because I cant go back to school now and I cant go to
India," Forte said with a soft smile.
Forte explained that she had worked in the high-tech industry since
1978 in myriad positions, including management, but had finally become
outraged about offshoring and decided to get involved. It was her first
labor protest, she said.
The protest coalition included TechsUnite.org, WashTech, several Bay
Area Communications Workers of America Locals, members of the San Mateo
and South Bay Labor Councils, the Teamsters, and other concerned
citizens.
Fortes mother-in-law Lydia Mednick, 78, was one citizen who wanted
to lend her support to the offshoring struggle.
"Im not in the industry, but Im concerned because I know there
are a great number of people out of work," Mednick, said. "The public
has to become irate with the situation to make some changes."
The coalition also included the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, which
has joined the Bay Area labor movement to protest companies that dump
high-tech waste in the form of monitors and motherboards on poor
countries.
"These companies dump their toxic waste in foreign countries, and dump
their expensive workers here at home," said Nobuko Mizoguichi, speaking
for the toxics group. "Were in solidarity with the labor movement
the same forces that are offshoring have cut back on environmental
protections and worker safety."
"Pollution is a global problem; air pollution in China will eventually
end up here, so whos benefiting by cutting costs?" Mizoguichi asked
the crowd.
IMB employee and Alliance@IMB/CWA union member Devin Kruse, 48, thinks
there should be a way for workers to compete across national boundaries
on a productivity level, which would balance the unfair advantage India
and other offshore countries have in paying similarly-educated workers
cheaper wages.
"We have to lobby congress and the treasurer and get their attention to
adjust the exchange rates so labor rates can be competitive across
countries, otherwise its gonna wind up hurting this country," said
Devin, who lives in Cupertino.
"IBM has to compete too," Kruse willingly acknowledged, "but the
government has to find a way to fix the inequities in the system.
"At least its a democracy -- we can still vote."
Jeff Nachtigal is a journalist who lives in Berkeley, California.
http://www.hireamericancitizens.org/concordnews100.html
Tuesday, September 02, 2003 - 8:18:30 AM PST
Protest decries foreign outsourcing
Bank of America targeted for demonstration against export of jobs
overseas By Alan Zibel, BUSINESS WRITER CONCORD
By Alan Zibel, BUSINESS WRITER
CARRYING SIGNS with such slogans as "Will code for food," and
"Outsourcing is stealing billions from America," about 40 technology
workers staged a Labor Day protest Monday against companies that send
American jobs overseas and employ foreigners on work visas. The group
of protesters, which included three candidates in California's recall
election for governor, gathered Monday morning on a street corner next
to Bank of America's Concord office complex, where about 3,500 people
work.
Bank of America was the target of Monday's protest because in April,
41-year-old software engineer Kevin Flanagan of Pleasant Hill committed
suicide after being laid off from his job in Concord, according to his
father.
A loose network of laid-off technology workers blames Bank of America
for Flanagan's death, because the company has signed software contracts
with several India-based consulting firms.
Many of those present Monday were well-paid programmers and information
technology workers before the current economic downturn. They
consistently described their frustrations at applying for job after
job, only to find nothing.
They blamed the lack of Bay Area high-tech jobs on companies that send
jobs offshore and bring in foreign workers on visas such as the H-1B
and L-1. Several protesters said companies favor foreign workers on
visas because they are easy to manage and can be paid less, even though
the law mandates that they be paid wages equal to those of U.S.
citizens.
Nick Bhatti, 23, of San Mateo, who came to America from India in 1992
and works as a programmer, called foreigners on work visas "modern-day
slaves" who work long hours with less pay than American citizens.
Corporations want cheap labor, and the government is enabling it, he
said.
"I have nothing against them, but I have a problem with the system,"
Bhatti said.
Though technology workers have not traditionally been unionized,
national labor unions have increasingly been getting involved in
high-tech issues. Joshua Sperry, a San Jose-based organizer with
Communications Workers of America, said his union is trying to start up
an organization of Bay Area technology workers as wages for programmers
decline amid a glut of workers and competition from overseas.
While Bank of America does outsource some projects to companies based
overseas, "the bank is a major employer in the United States," said
spokesman Harvey Radin. When the company sends software maintenance
work offshore, the company's programmers in America can "strengthen the
focus on software development," Radin said.
Over the next 15 years, 3.3 million American jobs representing $136
billion in wages will go offshore to places like India, Russia, China
and the Philippines, according to Forrester Research.
Supporters of offshore outsourcing say the American economy benefits
when companies are able to operate with lower costs. Though some jobs
do disappear through outsourcing, corporations are made more
financially healthy and thus have to lay off fewer people, according to
that argument.
Still, those assembled Monday morning didn't buy that line of
reasoning. Chris Parkes, an engineer from Moraga who works for the
state government, faulted political leaders for not recognizing the job
losses created by offshore outsourcing as a problem.
"I really wish that (President Bush) would finally recognize this
problem as a critical issue for the economy and the nation so that
something can be done about it," he said.
Dave Chapman of Sebastopol, a programmer with 20 years of experience
who was laid off two years ago, said he plans to run for Congress next
year as an independent, with an agenda of restricting visas for foreign
workers.
"What we're looking at here is a very large pattern of immigration
fraud," Chapman said. "There's no enforcement."
Though no elected officials showed up, three lesser-known candidates
for governor in the Oct. 7 recall election also got into the action.
They included Ken Hamidi, who gained fame by barraging Intel Corp. with
e-mails after being fired from the Santa Clara-based company in 1995;
Joe Guzzardi, a Lodi teacher and newspaper columnist who is running on
a platform of restricting immigration; and Marc Valdez, a Sacramento
air quality meteorologist.
"These folks here are like an endangered species," Valdez said. "This
movement to send the jobs to the cheapest possible place of labor is
just despicable."
Alan Zibel may be reached at (510) 208-6414 or azibel@angnewspapers.com
.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/business/6671785.htm
Posted on Tue, Sep. 02, 2003
Protesters angry over loss of U.S. jobs
By Ellen Lee
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
CONCORD - After job hunting for more than a year, Mike Anderson traded
in a high-paying career as a technology consultant for a substitute
teaching position with the West Contra Costa Unified School District.
"I used to have my pick," he said. "Now there's just nothing out
there."
The Berkeley resident, who last had a contract with IBM in 2001, joined
about 40 protesters in Concord on Labor Day rallying against a growing
corporate trend: sending technology jobs to places such as India and
Russia, where workers are typically paid half the amount of their
American counterparts to handle the same responsibilities.
The frustrated protesters blame this shift, called outsourcing or
offshoring, for the drought of technology jobs in the Bay Area.
"The dot-com bubble broke, but it shouldn't have erased all the jobs,"
Anderson said.
The group held signs such as "War on Nerds" with a red slash through it
and "Stop outsourcing. Save America. Hire Americans." in front of Bank
of America's Concord Technology Center, where Kevin Flanagan, a
computer programmer, committed suicide after losing his job this
spring. They vowed to continue protesting regularly, including in front
of an outsourcing conference in Burlingame later this month.
Bank of America is just one of an increasing number of corporations
employing workers outside the United States to handle information
technology tasks such as coding and maintaining a company's computer
systems. Businesses say the move allows them to serve their customers
better and keep them competitive.
But critics say that outsourcing could lead to dire consequences, such
as less income tax revenues as local workers lose their high-paying
jobs.
"Before we know it, we're going to be a third-world country," said Ken
Hamidi, a former Intel worker who is running for governor and joined
the protesters Monday morning. He suggests offering tax breaks and
other incentives to encourage businesses not to outsource. "If this
trend continues, we'll lose our technology leadership."
Security guards for the Bank of America kept an eye on the protesters
Monday, but did not interfere.
"It was very peaceful," said Harvey Radin, a spokesman for Bank of
America. "We respect their right to be out there."
Radin said the bank, which employs about 3,500 people in Concord, does
outsource some projects, but that it is not done on a "large scale."
Outsourcing doesn't always "equate to decisions about staffing levels,"
he added.
"We look at staffing in all of the units and lines of business of the
bank," he said. "It's an ongoing process. At times it may be necessary
to reduce staff. At the same time, we're adding staff in another area.
It really depends on what's happening in the markets we serve."
Lee Perry, who helped organize the protest, said he planned to help
others across the country hold similar rallies.
"We want to move this from a conspiracy to a movement," said Perry, a
technology worker who lives in Martinez and is job hunting. "When you
lose your job, it's real."
Ellen Lee covers technology and telecommunications. She can be reached
at 925-952-2614 or elee@cctimes.com.
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