A recent report from the Labor Department indicated that U.S. employers cut 17,000 jobs in January of this year. According to the Associated Press, this was "the first such reduction in more than four years."
Many of the job cuts were in manufacturing and "a variety of professional and business services."
I think it is no coincidence that these areas have seen a lot of U.S. jobs transferred to India, China, and other countries where the labor is much, much cheaper. Apparently, U.S. corporations care more about profits than the welfare of their employees.
Apparently, they also care more about profits than safety. This is evidenced by so many chilling accounts of unsafe American-named products imported from China -- everything from children's toys to toothpaste.
You get what you pay for.
And, apparently, they care more about profits than human rights. Many manufacturing facilities overseas are notorious for their use of sweatshops, horrific working conditions, and slave labor.
You get what you pay for.
All this so that U.S. corporations can rake in huge profits, and reward their CEOs with obscene salaries.
You get what you pay for? No, these CEOs get what others have paid for -- with blood, sweat, and tears.
And it's not just the low-level manufacturing jobs that are moving overseas. As the Labor Department's report noted, various professional and business services were also affected.
Chances are, if you have made a phone call for customer service in the past few years, particularly technical support, the representative who answered your call likely had an Indian accent. I have spoken with countless frustrated folks who gave up on getting their questions answered since they couldn't even make out the words that their rep was saying. I am not a xenophobe, but a customer service representative should have the necessary skills to make himself understood to his audience.
You get what you pay for.
I have a friend who worked as a technical writer for a Philadelphia area software developer. She thought her job was safe. After all, good technical writing must be very clear and unambiguous, and written using uncompromising standards of clarity. One of the rules of international technical writing is that you always write in your native language, or translate documentation into, not out of, your native language. Nevertheless, my friend's employer traded her in for her Indian counterparts. The resultant user guides, technical specs, and help screens were subpar, to say the least. But that didn't seem to matter to the corporate execs. Because it was all so affordable.
You get what you pay for.
Remember the American dream? It's looking more and more as though it, too, has been outsourced.
You get what the CEOs are willing to pay for.
http://www.maryshawonline.com
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she may be associated.
I worked at General Tire and Rubber which was in our town for nearly 50 years. After Bill Clinton ramrodded NAFTA, GATT and WTO in the early 90's they began to make preparations. Two years ago they closed the plant and moved to Mexico, leaving 2200 people without jobs and without benefits. It wasnt' that they weren't making a profit, they admitting that wasn't the problem. They weren't making enough profit. After having done that, the one plant that was left which had no union was attacked with threats. Each employee had to take a 50 percent pay cut and pay for much of their benefits. This nation is doomed to many generations of third world status, until a rebellion takes place. There's no hope in sight.
by
Bill Ehleben (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 30 comments)
on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 10:16:01 AM
Yes, as George Carlin says: "They call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it" ;)
When we look at what Walmart has done to their U.S.-based garment and electronics suppliers.... Actually requiring them to have facilities in China if they wish to sell their products to the largest retailer in the world.....
Then there is clear evidence that the outsourcing of America's manufacturing is deliberate, planned, and designed for a purpose.
When ships bringing in the loads of imports from China and elsewhere return loaded with the machines off of our factory floors... Then we not only have lost the jobs, we have lost the entire industry.
How can any government, any political party, any wing or faction condone such obvious treason? … Allow such a blatant attack on our security? To allow corporations to destroy our manufacturing and even white collar technical jobs is absurd... It goes beyond any reasonable explanation, any excuse; and even well beyond the political beliefs of most people who consider themselves Conservatives.
This is another clear and obvious sign that the nation is no longer a democratic republic; that we have lost all vestiges of control over what is happening here. That if we do not take back our government THIS YEAR, we will soon have no country left to protect.
by
Steve Windisch (jibbguy) (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 172 comments)
on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 2:34:04 PM
Once NAFTA and the WTO became fully mature, Middle Class America was forever doomed.
Disparities such as the $78.00 per hour loaded rate of a Detroit auto worker and the .23 to .30 cent per hour Chinese assembly worker, cannot be worked out under any circumstances.
And yes, as August Adams pointed out, the next class to be exported is the educated sector, who only thought they were above the fray.
by
Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments)
on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 12:39:07 PM
4 comments
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