Gangs of New Jersey

Gangs of New Jersey - Part 9

Date: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 12:57 AM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

This article is wrong on a very important point. The New Jersey
anti-outsourcing bill was passed by a unanimous vote in the New Jersey
senate. The Legislature, not the Senate, put this bill on hold by
tabling it.

The threat to use the WTO to block the bill is also mentioned.

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=42649098

Infotech Online
Printed from infotech.indiatimes.com

New Jersey Bill Hits a Road Block

AGENCIES[ MONDAY, APRIL 07, 2003 11:25:48 AM ]

In what could bring some cheer to Indian IT professionals, the US
federal government is believed not to be in favour of New Jerseys
proposed legislation to prevent government contracts from being
outsourced

Confirming the development, highly-placed sources in the Union Commerce
Ministry which oversees the issue at the bilateral level said that
Washington is not in favour of the New Jerseys bill.

Even as the bill moved by state Senator Shirley Turner in the New
Jersey senate has been put on hold till May, US Trade Representative
(USTR) Robert Zoellick is learnt to have sent a letter to the Commerce
Ministry conveying the US governments reservations on the bill.

Considering the gravity of the problem, Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley
had raised the issue with USTR at the recently held mini-ministerial
meeting of WTO in Tokyo.

If the move gains momentum and the bill is passed by the state senate
when it meets in May, Indian companies would be badly hit, as the bill
prohibits foreign call centres from executing state-awarded
customer-support contracts. Four other US states are also considering
similar bills.

It had come as a big blow to the IT industry, which has, recently,
witnessed professionals being roughed up in various places, actions the
industry views as latent restriction. Industry experts said this ban
could have serious repercussions, especially for the IT sector with its
lions share in BPO, mainly due to wage differential and
English-knowing quality workforce.

Help to Keep ZaZona.com Online

Donate to the Cause at
http://www.zazona.com/Donations.htm
To Subscribe or Unsubcribe send an email to

Back to archives