Obama presses ahead with anti-outsourcing rhetoric (India)

[OhioChick]

Source: The Hindu

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 : 1140 Hrs

Washington (PTI): Continuing to play the anti-outsourcing card, Democrat presidential front-runner Barack Obama on Wednesday said while America cannot "shy away" from globalisation, it would have to take measures to ensure that jobs are not shipped overseas.

"We have to stop providing tax breaks for companies that are shipping jobs overseas and give those tax breaks to companies that are investing here in the United States of America," Obama said in during a debate with rival Senator Hillary Clinton in Ohio, Cleaveland.

The Illinois Senator, playing to the gallery of those workers who have been displaced in manufacturing jobs as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and generally to the anti-outsourcing crowd, said he would ensure that every pact the US signs has environmental, safety and labour standards to protect workers and consumers alike.

"We can't have toys with lead paint in them that our children are playing with. We can't have medicines that are actually making people more sick instead of better because they're produced overseas," Obama said.



Read more: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200802271121.htm

---

Sounds like a certain country does NOT like Obama.

[DS1]

1. Yes!

Fuck those fuckers!

[LoZoccolo]

2. This is actually the one issue that initially tilted me toward Obama. n/t

[rosetta627]

3. He's on the right side of this issue

And it's a biggie.
And it's timely...
Ohio is devastated by NAFTA.
Whole cities boarded up. Foreclosures all over... Sickening.

[TseeBaeng]

4. It's so unsettling to have other countries bidding on our jobs

It's good Barack is standing up and not just letting things flow the way they've been flowing.

[OhioChick]

5. Agreed

And Welcome to DU! :hi:

[mac2]

6. What's scary is that our private information is for sale

around the world. Our government has "outsourced" even our federal jobs to India. Ya...like that was a good idea?

Choice Point who gathered information on Americans for insurance, etc. reason is now selling that information to a huge British company for billions of dollars. It is Lexus-Nexus who sells information.

They profit off our information and then tell us to be careful with ID theft? Illegals are doing it everyday and yet they want us to give them amnesty too.

Tell your representatives...no sale of our information should be approved. Stop it.

http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/06/02/AmericaForSale.pdf It's outrageous and treasonous.

[OhioChick]

7. You Make Some Very Good, Valid Points. n/t

[Autumn Colors]

9. As a medical transcriptionist, I agree

It's disturbing to think that the type of information I see on a day-to-day basis is being seen and typed by many other transcription companies who outsource to India.

It's been tough to find new business as we're competing with new technologies (electronic medical record systems that will be mandatory in 2009 and companies who outsource to dirt cheap labor overseas).

The bright side of this is that I keep hearing from more and more practices that they tried the companies that outsource to India, but the quality of the transcription was so awful that they will NEVER do that again.

That doesn't get rid of the competition from technology, but I think more and more doctors will be avoiding the overseas companies as each of them goes through that bad experience.

[hughee99]

8. The "anti-outsourcing card"?

I though it was a policy, and a pretty good one at that. When did legitimate policy issues become "cards" like the race card or the gender card? I must have missed that.

[IronLionZion]

10. This Indian IT professional is supporting Obama

for reasons that have nothing to do with outsourcing.

You don't even realize. our community is split 3 ways for Hillary, Obama, and McCain. our office is split, even my family is split. Obama seems to have a lot of support from the Indian community, especially among Indian men. There are many Desi blogs that make compelling cases to support Obama, part of which is his minority ethnicity and having lived overseas. Obama knows what it's like to be the only dark face in the room. Hillary had a direct role in creating my current job (one of those famous Buffalo jobs that supposedly don't exist!) but I support Barack Obama for president.

GOBAMA!!!

[OhioChick]

11. Good Luck With Your Job, in All Seriousness...

TCS cuts staff salaries in tune with tough times (TATA)

Source: Economic Times India

30 Jan, 2008, 0230 hrs IST,S Srinivasan

MUMBAI: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest software exporter, is effecting a small across-the-board cut in employee salaries based on the company’s performance in the third quarter, a move reflecting caution amid tough times for the outsourcing industry. A top company official confirmed the move while stock market analysts said TCS is sending signals that revenue growth has not met internal targets and employees can’t expect a big wage increase this year.

TCS has clipped a portion of the variable pay linked to its performance, effectively reducing an employee’s salary by about 1.5% for the January-March quarter, TCS executive director and global human resources head S Padmanabhan told ET. “We undertake a review of variable pay every quarter and this time, we decided to make an adjustment,” he said. “We will revisit it in April.”

This is the first time in two years that the IT giant has reduced the variable portion linked to company performance. Mr Padmanabhan said the outsourcing sector faces macroeconomic challenges, which had to be factored in the quarterly review. The variable pay related to individual performance has not been touched, he added.

“This can send a strong signal to the employees that revenues have not measured up to internal targets,” a Mumbai brokerage analyst said. “The cut is small and is unlikely to attract a howl of protests, but employees will get the message that all is not well with the sector. Instead of giving them a shock at the time of annual salary review, the management has sought to lower their expectations of wage inflation through this small cut,” the analyst said.

TCS had reported a 5% quarter-on-quarter revenue growth and 6.7% rise in net profit for October-December, in line with market expectations. It had expressed ‘cautious optimism’ in the face of fears over a US slowdown and reasserted its ability to manage the rise in rupee’s external value.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Outsourcing_woes_force_TCS_to_cut_salaries/articleshow/2741768.cms

Also: TCS salary cut: Tell us!
January 31, 2008

In what could be an indicator to the tough times ahead for IT companies, Tata Consultancy Services plans to cut employees' salaries.

In an internal note sent to employees, TCS said that the company had not met its the third quarter internal economic value-added (EVA) target and as such it plans to make up for the losses with a cut in the variable pay given to employees.

The slowdown in the United States, the subprime crisis and the rising rupee are gradually taking a toll on the performance of Indian IT companies and employees are bearing the brunt of it.

Is this a sign of more trouble to follow for the IT sector? Are the days of high salaries and bonuses over? Is the TCS move good if it were to be a short-term strategy? Do you think more companies will cut staff wages? Tell us.

Comments Below. Very Interesting.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/jan/31msg.htm

[IronLionZion]

13. good luck with your job too

I have plans to leave the company to further my education in the fall so I'm feeling good. President Obama and the Dem congress will have fixed the economy by the time I get out.

[OhioChick]

20. Thanks and Good Luck to You, as Well.

I hope that times get better for all of us. :)

[reprobate]

17. Is anyone surprised about this?

It is the self imposed job of management to cut the cost of labor in any way possible. It's the one cost that is compressible. With each cut in labor cost there are fewer workers who will work for the new scale. This continues until the scale is so low that the quality of work becomes unacceptable. Management then looks for a cheaper labor pool, which or course produces lower quality.

And so the spiral to the bottom continues. Only a healthy union movement that's strong enough to counter this spiral can change things.

[Dems Will Win]

12. Clinton is a Benedict Arnold on Offshoring Jobs! TATA, Photo in Native Dress!

Clinton Woos the Outsourcers that Workers Fear
by Peter Wallsten
BUFFALO, N.Y. - To many labor unions and high-tech workers, the Indian giant Tata Consultancy Services is a serious threat - a company that has helped move U.S. jobs to India while sending thousands of foreign workers on temporary visas to the United States.

So when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) came to this struggling city to announce some good news, her choice of partners was something of a surprise.

Joining Tata Consultancy’s chief executive at a downtown hotel, Clinton announced that the company would open a software development office in Buffalo and form a research partnership with a local university. Tata told a newspaper that it might hire as many as 200 people.

The 2003 announcement had clear benefits for the senator and the company: Tata received good press, and Clinton burnished her credentials as a champion for New York’s depressed upstate region.

But less noticed was how the event signaled that Clinton, who portrays herself as a fighter for American workers, had aligned herself with Indian American business leaders and Indian companies feared by the labor movement.

Now, as Clinton runs for president, that signal is echoing loudly.

Clinton is successfully wooing wealthy Indian Americans, many of them business leaders with close ties to their native country and an interest in protecting outsourcing laws and expanding access to worker visas. Her campaign has held three fundraisers in the Indian American community recently, one of which raised close to $3 million, its sponsor told an Indian news organization.

But in Buffalo, the fruits of the Tata deal have been hard to find. The company, which called the arrangement Clinton’s “brainchild,” says “about 10 employees work here. Tata says most of the new employees were hired from around Buffalo. It declines to say whether any of the new jobs are held by foreigners, who make up 90% of Tata’s 10,000-employee workforce in the United States.

As for the research deal with the state university that Clinton announced, school administrators say that three attempts to win government grants with Tata for health-oriented research were unsuccessful and that no projects are imminent.

...

Like many businesses and economists, Clinton says that the United States benefits by admitting high-tech workers from abroad. She backs proposals to increase the number of temporary visas for skilled foreigners.

The Tata deal shows the difficulty of proving concrete benefits to U.S. workers from the visa system. Since 2003, the year its Buffalo office opened, Tata and its affiliates have sought permission to bring more than 1,600 foreign high-tech workers to the state, including at least 495 to the upstate region and 45 to Buffalo, according to government data. Tata has brought additional workers into the country under a second visa program whose numbers have not been disclosed.

Some U.S. worker organizations say Clinton cannot claim to support American workers if she is also helping Indian outsourcing companies and proposing more worker visas.

“It’s just two-faced,” said John Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild, one of several high-tech worker organizations that have sprung up as outsourcing has expanded. “We see her undermining U.S. workers and helping the offshoring business, and then she comes back to the U.S. and says, ‘I’m concerned about your pain.’ ”

...

The main lobbying organization for the Indian-American community, USINPAC, cites the Tata deal as one of Clinton’s top three achievements as a senator - and evidence of a turnabout, in its view, from her past criticism of outsourcing. “Even though she was against outsourcing at the beginning of her political career,” the USINPAC website says, “she has since changed her position and now maintains that offshoring brings as much economic value to the United States as to the country where services are outsourced, especially India.”

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/30/2857/

[fujiyama]

14. Actually I was in India just last week

and they seem to like him just fine. In fact, I was really surprised how popular he is over there.

Which is very interesting, because while they loved Bill Clinton over there, they seem to be inspired by Obama just like many are over here. Granted, I don't think they necessarily have a problem with Hillary, but many just aren't that impressed by her - McCain's pro war- pro Bush foreign policy stance of course turns them off. I hate to bring the Kennedy analogy, because Obama is unique in his own way, but the world is watching this election and I think Obama's past and vision can heal some of the global wounds Bush created. Also, while some may end up preferring Hillary's pro outsourcing viewpoint, I sensed a growing confidence there in their own ability to succeed regardless of the US political situation.

Also, other countries know that Obama isn't a protectionist or isolationist but Obama knows that a manufacturing sector is vital to our own economy.

Obama's one asset, is that he will listen (unlike the current ass hat) to opposing viewpoints and make his decisions accordingly which is great because I think it's vital to continue to build our relationship with India, in terms of trade and military ties.

[WVRevy]

15. It isn't "outsourcing" that's the problem...

...it's "offshoring". I work in the idustry, and there is a difference between the two. Nearly all of the outsourcing that our company does it ONshore, right here in the USofA. We've got offices all over the country - generally in places where we can find less expensive labor - that we use as outsourcing hubs.

Every time I see the term "outsourcing" attacked as something negative, I cringe a little. If I e-mailed his campaign (I'm a contributor), does anyone here think he'd actually start using the correct word?

[Deja Q]

19. A logical assessment; I agree.

I still think, for some industries, having loyal, dedicated on staff is a good thing, but for other tasks there is nothing wrong in outsourcing.

Offshoring is an altogether different, and more complex, situation.

[WVRevy]

22. It really depends...

There are pluses and minuses to both arguments (which my company would be pissed at me for saying...lol). Having, say, IT people on STAFF instead of outsourced can give them more of a feeling of having a "stake" in the company's success, so they may approach things differently than a contractor who is only worried about getting the contract renewed.

That said, it's a HELLUVA lot cheaper to outsource IT work to cheaper labor areas (see the first two letters of my name for an idea of where I'm coming from, literally and figuratively). A helpdesk person in, say, California is going to make somewhere in the $25/hour range at a minimum. I can get a MORE qualified candidate in a cheaper labor area for $15...and we pick up the insurance and all of the other "burden" that goes with having an employee on staff. Even with a mark-up...you're going to save money in the long run by outsourcing positions that don't need to be on-site.

Actually, the "jobs going to India" problem isn't as bad as it was a couple years ago. Know why? Because THEIR labor rates are starting to increase. When you figure the quality of service difference between an American company like ours and a company offshoring the position...the cost savings isn't quite as much as it appears on the surface. The problem is, not enough people are MAKING that argument, but all they have to do is ask Dell, who recently moved jobs BACK to this country after getting too many complaints from businesses that were buying their support but not getting the level they were used to.

[rinsd]

16. Why are you generalizing and casting this as a certain country against Obama?

Again the focus is India to the exclusion of others.

[OhioChick]

21. Once Again......

As I Have Continuously Repeated to You in Another Thread: (Obviously to No Avail)

Try to Comprehend This:

India is the #1 Outsourcing destination for US Corporations. Google is Your Friend.


N. Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of India's southern Andhra Pradesh state, a top outsourcing destination for US corporations, recently met a group of visiting US congressmen in Hyderabad and urged them to defeat anti-outsourcing regulations.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/23/1077384668937.html?from=storyrhs

Read the Title of this Article:

"Obama presses ahead with anti-outsourcing rhetoric"

Definition of "rhetoric": loud and confused and empty talk;

Coming from an Indian News Source, It Doesn't Sound Very Positive to Me.

[ChromeFoundry]

23. I think the OP has explained her views

on why Indian outsourcing hits closest home to her situation... repeatedly! If you have something to add, then please add. If all you are trying to do is start an argument without any logical debate, then please visit one of the kiddy's gaming forums (abundantly available on every corner of the Internet).

If you have ever followed the OP's threads on here, you'd understand that she equally has a problem with the outsourcing of US jobs to Mexico, China, Vietnam and the wide variety of other destinations ripe to exploit their masses through the enslavement of cheap labor. The OP is an asset to this board and the US labor force. You are proving to be just another blip on the radar screen of disrupter.

:popcorn:

[AngryOldDem]

24. What is so hard to understand here? n/t

[Deja Q]

18. When will India stop "needing" the United States?

Obama, despite lacking details the same way experienced politicians omit details, has some valid points.

Now I have no qualms with helping other people across the world. We should all be so friendly on a base level; that's common sense and a trait of virtue! But we shouldn't be... urinating on our own people in the process. I cannot think of any other word to say, which is a bit of a shame; but the morale in this country, thanks to offshoring alone, has plummeted, and one day, if the trend isn't stopped, there may be no way to turn things around.

Especially people who take out student loans; why take on so much debt, grants, scholarships, and so on, for a field that is vanishing; disallowing the hard working student to get a job to pay back those debts?

And when you have peers telling you "Don't get education in that field if it looks like it can be offshored" - then that means nobody should be saying Americans aren't qualified, disinterested, or anything else. The problem is not the American people. Not this time. We're merely reacting to what is going on by the corporate powers. And that is a valid point of view too. Is it not stupid to spend so much money into a field that won't allow the student to pay back the loans?