Tech offshoring now raises union hackles

[OhioChick]

Source: Economic Times India

3 Feb 2009, 0317 hrs IST, Pankaj Mishra, ET Bureau

BANGALORE: As global tech firms IBM, Microsoft and EDS-HP seek to trim payroll by slashing jobs in the US and Europe to cope with a worsening economic slump, information technology workers and unions are taking a more militant stance on the sensitive issue of offshoring.

These unions or employee associations are aggressively questioning plans to send more work to cheaper locations like India and are pushing for more jobs in the US.

Microsoft, which announced first job cuts in its history, apart from IBM are among those facing a backlash from tech worker unions and policymakers. Alliance IBM, a union of IT workers at the Big Blue has been running a campaign against the proposed 2,800 job cuts announced recently. Washington Alliance of Technology Workers is also one such organisations in the US running such a campaign.

“The Alliance is strongly urging IBM not to go forward with a new round of job cuts and to stop the off-shoring of US workers’ jobs,” Lee Conrad, national coordinator of the Alliance said in a statement. IBM employs over 70,000 professionals in India and has plans to increasingly serve its global customers from the country.

Consulting group Challenger, Gray and Christmas said last month that electronics, computer and telecommunications companies in the US have cut their workforce by around 186, 955 professionals in 2008, up almost 75% from 2007.


Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Tech_offshoring_raises_union_hackles/articleshow/4067718.cms

[NYC_SKP]

1. But American jobs were all going to be in the information era, while NAFTA

was going to send the dirty jobs overseas.

What happened?

Oh. No.

[ChromeFoundry]

2. As expected...

All the fuckin' jobs went overseas.

[dbonds]

16. That giant sucking sound Ross Perot warned about.

Technically that was about NAFTA and Mexico, he was right about that. This is Chapter 2.

[FreakinDJ]

3. Make the terms of the "Trade Deals" public

If the American Public knew the terms of some these so called Trade Deals there would be rioting in the streets

[Dan]

19. There was in Seattle...

[The Brethren]

21. Very true. And financially it screws us.

Unfort. as they say "a deal's a deal" until politicians smarten up and change the deals.

[bkkyosemite]

4. All the layoffs that just happened guess where they are gonna show up next..you betcha.

[OhioChick]

6. Microsoft's?

Right after their 5,000 layoffs.....here are some:

http://www.myvisajobs.com/Visa-Job-Keywords/microsoft.htm

Note they ask for H-1B's ONLY.

[harpboy_ak]

23. Time to get rid of the H1B program

Congress needs to kill off the H1B visa program for IT jobs NOW. Period.

IMHO the only waivers we should have should be for nurses. Everyone else should get in the immigration queue.

[izquierdista]

26. Not even them

If there is a need for more nurses, then expand enrollments and offer tuition credits at nursing schools.

[OhioChick]

11. IBM, too. How about that?

IBM quietly cuts thousands of jobs

Updated: 1 day ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- It isn't releasing specific numbers, but IBM has cut thousands of jobs over the past week including positions in sales, hardware and software divisions.

Workers have reported layoffs in Arizona, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York state, Texas and Vermont. IBM says the cuts are simply part of its ongoing efforts to watch costs.

It is adding bodies in cheaper and higher-growth parts of the world, like India.

Staffing in India has jumped from just 9,000 workers in 2003 to 74,000 workers in 2007.

http://www.kare11.com/news/national/national_article.aspx?storyid=537958&catid=18

IBM is trying to hit up Obama for some bailout $$$$ to boot.

[FreakinDJ]

13. We have to impose tax penalties to stem the tide of Off Shoring

or those corporate assholes will run this country in the ground....

Oh, wait..... they already did

[OhioChick]

15. I was going to say.........too late. n/t

[bkkyosemite]

20. Husband retired IBMer they are taking from their retirees benefits and then they said we made a

profit last quarter and now want some of the dough. They just shoved a whole lot of people off their prescription drug plan with a ploy and have made a bundle...slime.

[Skittles]

5. "Could you tell me the impact of my job failing to run?"

yeah, that's what some Indian clown asked me

[ChromeFoundry]

8. Response: "I could, but I lack that amount of patience." n/t

[Skittles]

10. "It's your fucking job, you should know the fucking impact"

that's the correct response

[ChromeFoundry]

12. LOL

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Skittles]

14. it gets worse

I had to call a primary on-call in Brazil for a Sev 1 - he said he was in a restaurant an hour from his PC. I slammed the phone down and paged the secondary on-call. He was in the restaurant with the primary.

[ChromeFoundry]

17. I can top that...

I had an Indian co-worker ask me if I would write an application for them because they went on an interview... were given 24 hours to write a functional application that met a set of specifications defined by the interviewer. This was their "Interview Test"!!!

[Skittles]

18. OMG

:rofl:

[Azlady]

22. Ha ha ha ha!!!

:rofl:
OMG! That is crazy! Say do you know if they got the job? Frightening if they did!

[Skittles]

25. hopefully, he wrote some crap for them

same as they would have written

[ChromeFoundry]

27. My response was...

"That would not be ethical." I don't think they understood.

I wasn't about to waste my time in writing anything... not even crap! LOL

[anonymous171]

7. I thought all tech people were randroids and therefore hated unions?

[ChromeFoundry]

9. An oversight, right?

I'm looking for the :sarcasm: but not finding it.

[Hannah Bell]

24. they used to be, when they were in the money. times change, & so do opinions.