Seeker of Truth
05-21-2003, 04:56 AM
Cheap Labor at America's Expense
Posted May 19, 2003
By Kelly Patricia O Meara
The outsourcing of U.S. jobs via companies such as Outsource Partners International to Bombay, India, does little to revive the sputtering U.S. economy.
"Hey, it's good work if you can get it," says New Jersey state Sen. Shirley Turner about the outsourcing of the Garden State's welfare-processing contract. But neither New Jerseyans nor any other Americans are getting the work, so she has introduced legislation that she believes will keep those jobs at home.
Turner, a Democrat, filed her proposal after learning that the New Jersey Department of Human Services had contracted with an Arizona-based company to service paperwork for the state's welfare recipients at the "cost-saving" price of $326,000 a month. The Arizona company had established a call center in Green Bay, Wis., but once the New Jersey contract came through, the call center was relocated to Bombay, India.
"It seems like a race to the bottom," says Turner. "All these jobs are leaving the state and the country, and our unemployment rate continues to climb. We're in a recession and you have to wonder where it ends. The point of the contract was to save money - assuming that these people overseas can do it cheaper and more efficiently. But this is a ruse because we're supposed to help provide jobs to these [unemployed] people here."
The irate Turner continues, "Neither the people in India who have the jobs, nor the people who are unemployed here in the U.S., are giving anything back in the way of taxes or buying and consuming U.S. goods and services, which is what stimulates our economy. By outsourcing these jobs to other countries we're helping the poor remain poor in this country. We have a $5 billion deficit in New Jersey and outsourcing these jobs to foreign countries only adds to the burden that the state must pick up when our citizens need [welfare] services. When people lose their jobs, and their unemployment benefits run out, the state must step in and take up the burden to provide the services. That's not cost savings and it really just snowballs when jobs are taken offshore."
More @ Insightmag.com (http://www.insightmag.com/news/434411.html)
Posted May 19, 2003
By Kelly Patricia O Meara
The outsourcing of U.S. jobs via companies such as Outsource Partners International to Bombay, India, does little to revive the sputtering U.S. economy.
"Hey, it's good work if you can get it," says New Jersey state Sen. Shirley Turner about the outsourcing of the Garden State's welfare-processing contract. But neither New Jerseyans nor any other Americans are getting the work, so she has introduced legislation that she believes will keep those jobs at home.
Turner, a Democrat, filed her proposal after learning that the New Jersey Department of Human Services had contracted with an Arizona-based company to service paperwork for the state's welfare recipients at the "cost-saving" price of $326,000 a month. The Arizona company had established a call center in Green Bay, Wis., but once the New Jersey contract came through, the call center was relocated to Bombay, India.
"It seems like a race to the bottom," says Turner. "All these jobs are leaving the state and the country, and our unemployment rate continues to climb. We're in a recession and you have to wonder where it ends. The point of the contract was to save money - assuming that these people overseas can do it cheaper and more efficiently. But this is a ruse because we're supposed to help provide jobs to these [unemployed] people here."
The irate Turner continues, "Neither the people in India who have the jobs, nor the people who are unemployed here in the U.S., are giving anything back in the way of taxes or buying and consuming U.S. goods and services, which is what stimulates our economy. By outsourcing these jobs to other countries we're helping the poor remain poor in this country. We have a $5 billion deficit in New Jersey and outsourcing these jobs to foreign countries only adds to the burden that the state must pick up when our citizens need [welfare] services. When people lose their jobs, and their unemployment benefits run out, the state must step in and take up the burden to provide the services. That's not cost savings and it really just snowballs when jobs are taken offshore."
More @ Insightmag.com (http://www.insightmag.com/news/434411.html)