India reacts sharply to US IT outsourcing ban

[Captal_de_Buch]

It looks like there might be some hope yet,
Some states are considering a ban on outsourcing IT jobs to places like India.

From the Economic Times..

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=47566250

India reacts sharply to US states' proposal to ban BPO

PTI[ MONDAY, MAY 26, 2003 03:54:09 PM ]
NEW DELHI: India on Monday reacted sharply against the four US states reportedly proposing to ban outsourcing of state data processing contracts to developing nations.

Union Law and Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley said the move was against the principle of market access, and "we are placed on high moral ground to take it up at the (World Trade Orgnisation) negotiations,".

Speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Federation of Indian Exporter's Organisation's building here, he said while the buzz word in world trade was "market access," the rule was "market denial" when it came to areas where developing countries were competitive.

The Sunday Telegraph newspaper of UK reported reported yesterday that New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut and Washington were considering bringing legislations to ban outsourcing of government contracts to the companies of the developing countries.

Jaitley, who had discussed the issue with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick at Tokyo Mini-Ministerial Meeting of WTO, also said he did not believe such moves would have any immediate adverse impact on Indian software industry.

He said it was the competitiveness of the Indian industry which had made a powerful economy like US think that it was losing jobs to a small town like Gurgaon.

 

[William]

I don't think the US states can legally do what they have proposed to do. Thats like telling Dell they can't buy anything thats made in Taiwan.

I am suprised Washington is one of the states too, I would think Microsoft would have a stronger lobby.

Damn gov't.

 

[Tecumseh]

Sure it can, and probably will. Hell, if this outsourcing continues
there wont be any US IT jobs. You non-Americans may not like
this, but we will move to America first for Americans. All sovereign
nations have this right.

 

[Daemonfly]

I'd like to see them ban more than just IT outsourcing...

 

[DAGO]

Sure it can, and probably will. Hell, if this outsourcing continues
there wont be any US IT jobs. You non-Americans may not like
this, but we will move to America first for Americans. All sovereign
nations have this right.

I agree. My brother has been a programmer for NY State since the 70's and says that a great many jobs have been lost to the Indian workers. We're not talking just a few jobs here, but many hundreds of jobs...And this is just in one small portion of the State Government...Wiping out job security for many thousands of Americans will lead this country down the road to ruin...
Saving a buck or two at the cost of American jobs is pure folly...

I say more power to those states that are fighting the trend...

 

[Wonko The Sane]

I totally agree with banning outsourcing to india. I used to do tech support for a printer company, who recently closed the call center i was working at. During the last few weeks they were open, i found out that they were opening an outsourced call center in india. it really sucked because like 450 or so people were laid of, and the CEO got like $2 million bonus for saving money.

 

[SevenSixTwo]

bringing legislations to ban outsourcing of government contracts to the companies of the developing countries

This only concerns government contracts, which is probably not even statistically significant when compared to the civilian sector. It's no more different than police departments building their fleets from domestic vehicles.

As far as patriotism goes, speaking as an American, I can honestly say every foreign colleague I've worked with had much better work ethics than their American counterpart.

Management is making million dollar salaries for a reason, they are in their right mind and get the work done cheaper, and more often than not, better. On the micro scale, sure your friend might of lost a job, but it would be a gain for the economy as a whole.

Would you like to pay $25k for a Chevy assembled in Mexico and drive a car assembled to US company standards, or would you rather pay $35k for the same exact car but keep somebody's under skilled and overpaid friend employed? It's a stretch but the point was made

 

[fiji]

It looks like there might be some hope yet,
Some states are considering a ban on outsourcing IT jobs to places like India.

From the Economic Times..

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=47566250

India reacts sharply to US states' proposal to ban BPO

PTI[ MONDAY, MAY 26, 2003 03:54:09 PM ]
NEW DELHI: India on Monday reacted sharply against the four US states reportedly proposing to ban outsourcing of state data processing contracts to developing nations.

Union Law and Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley said the move was against the principle of market access, and "we are placed on high moral ground to take it up at the (World Trade Orgnisation) negotiations,".

Speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Federation of Indian Exporter's Organisation's building here, he said while the buzz word in world trade was "market access," the rule was "market denial" when it came to areas where developing countries were competitive.

The Sunday Telegraph newspaper of UK reported reported yesterday that New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut and Washington were considering bringing legislations to ban outsourcing of government contracts to the companies of the developing countries.

Jaitley, who had discussed the issue with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick at Tokyo Mini-Ministerial Meeting of WTO, also said he did not believe such moves would have any immediate adverse impact on Indian software industry.

He said it was the competitiveness of the Indian industry which had made a powerful economy like US think that it was losing jobs to a small town like Gurgaon.

i say... go USA lol give us some jobs

 

[Ridenow]

This is not news. I work for a SACWIS project. The deal was that states get federal money to upgrade their child welfare systems. One of the agreements to to get the money is that the support had to be based in the US. One of the requirements Illinois had for contractors is that the support had to have offices in the State. That is why our helpdesk is in Springfield, IL, not our Houston datacenter office.
Been like that on the federal level for years.

 

[Wonko The Sane]

Would you like to pay $25k for a Chevy assembled in Mexico and drive a car assembled to US company standards, or would you rather pay $35k for the same exact car but keep somebody's under skilled and overpaid friend employed? It's a stretch but the point was made

Although some things may be cheaper when built/supported, etc in other countries, if more and more companies start outsourcing to other countries, people in this country have fewer job openings.

Maybe I'm over-sensitive about this, but it was pretty bad when the company i worked for basically said "this call center is too expensive, we're moving to india." and laid of a bunch of people.

 

[SevenSixTwo]

Those people are not losing jobs, they will obtain or improve their skills, and take on a more responsibility in the future.

We once were an industrial society, with workers waking up and going into dusty and unsafe factories to perform tasks which did not require much skill. We outsourced that and now we are a service oriented society. All the "dirty" jobs so to speak are outsourced. What we have now is upping the standards in the service. Wouldn’t it be nice if everybody in USA wore a tie to work and was a manager making 6 digits? That's how it will be in the future, and if we mess with the system and let somebody be overpaid we will stagnate. Just like the US automotive industry did and was almost wiped out by the Japanese. If there is no competition, there is no incentive to improve. Simple as that.

 

[nil_esh]

I work in IT at the moment in the U.S, so I'm faced with this as well.

This kind of thing has happened to many industries, this is nothing new. In this case, thanks to the Internet it is becoming very easy to collaborate with people far away.

I don't think there should be an outsourcing ban. Maybe some other measure should be taken to encourage businesses to hire U.S. workers, but not an outright ban. You can complain about outsourcing, but then look at where that monitor you are staring at is made, that keyboard you are typing on, and for many of us, the car you are driving, etc. Computer products are so cheap because so much of it is manuafactured in other countries.

Yeah, its a bummer that so many people here are out of work. But look at India with its ridiculous poverty rate (I heard 60%). You have no idea until you visit the country. Giving these people jobs is in some sense a humanitarian aid.

And remember, we can be the ones doing the outsourcing. Have a business idea, but don't have the resources to hire inhouse labor? Have a contract that you are unable to complete yourself? Outsource it. I know of quite a few people who are doing just that, some of which would not be in business without it.

And also remember, we can always sell our services/products to other countries. It goes both ways.

 

[FlypSyde]

What it comes down to is:

A company outsources some functions to save money which results in some people losing their jobs.

or

A company can't afford to stay in business and everyone loses their jobs.

Choose your poison.

 

[Pinky]

What it comes down to is:

A company outsources some functions to save money which results in some people losing their jobs.

or

A company can't afford to stay in business and everyone loses their jobs.

Choose your poison.

Not necessarily, in most cases it's a matter of greedy CEOs wanting a pay raise or you losing your job.

 

[mikapc]

What a dilemma it seems for the U.S. considering that as our economy becomes more linked to the world economy we become more dependant on foreigners for our own prosperity. The sad thing is if the U.S. starts banning superior talent and skilled labor from foreign countries I would say you only in the long run jeopardize U.S. economy because that foreign work only ends up benefiting some other countries economy. The question first to ask is is this foreign labor actually better then what we have here already. I would venture to say that for the most part not really so in that case our own people should be given extra priority in job selection.