Outsourcing conference a lure

Date: Sunday, June 22, 2003 12:20 AM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

A few Boston area workers organized a protest against outsourcing,
H-1B, and L-1. Hopefully this will lead to larger protests in the
future.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/171/business/Outsourcing_conference_a_lure+.shtml

Outsourcing conference a lure

Hundreds attend, but a few protest export of US jobs

By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff, 6/20/2003

The outsourcing boom that has American companies moving their high-tech
work to low-wage workers outside the United States attracted hundreds
of interested business people to a conference at the Hynes Veterans
Memorial Convention Center this week. Yesterday, the conference also
drew a handful of unemployed technology workers, part of a growing
protest movement against a practice they say is hollowing out the US
economy.

Fewer than 10 people gathered outside the convention center to display
banners, pass out leaflets, and engage in friendly but spirited
discussions with conference attendees. The small group was organized by
the North American Alliance for Fair Employment, an alliance of liberal
activist groups and labor unions, including the AFL-CIO.

Co-coordinator Suren Moodliar said that his group is worried that
efforts by corporations and government agencies to send work to other
countries is leading to a lower standard of living for US workers.
''Instead of corporate globalization promoting a race to the bottom,
we'd like to see alternatives,'' Moodliar said.

For years many engineers, computer programmers, and other high-tech
workers have complained that US companies have used special visas,
called H-1B and L-1 visas, to import workers from India and other
countries. These workers allegedly supplant native-born Americans,
increasing unemployment among highly educated US workers.

But since the technology slump of the past three years, companies have
reduced their use of H-1B and L-1 visas. Instead, many firms have set
up operations in other countries to handle everything from telephone
call centers to computer programming tasks. Countries like India offer
thousands of well-educated workers at wages far lower than those
offered in the United States.

Unemployed software engineer Steven Paris, 47, says that work visas and
outsourcing are why he's been out of a job since October, despite
bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science. ''I think we need
to curb the H-1B and L-1 program,'' Paris said, ''and I think we're
going to have to look at tariffs and some kind of protectionism'' to
limit outsourcing. Paris agreed that foreign competition was healthy
for the economy, but said that the outsourcing trend has gone too far.

Unix system administrator John Malloy used to work for NASA, but hasn't
had a steady job in over two years. ''I'm 40 years old, and my life is
ruined,'' he said. Malloy said his last job was at a local healthcare
company, where he helped train two workers from India. He said the
Indian workers are still on the job, but he was laid off. ''I'm not
prejudiced or racist in any form,'' Malloy said. ''I'm an open,
fair-minded world citizen who loves everybody . . . but I'm really
starting to get frustrated.''

One conference attendee with a different perspective stopped to chat
with the protesters. Zareen Karani Araoz, president of the consulting
firm Managing Across Cultures, said that without the lower costs made
possible by outsourcing, many US companies would have gone under during
the recession. ''Just suppose your companies had not survived,'' Araoz
said. ''At least a few people have jobs.''

Still, even Araoz agreed that the displacement of American workers was
a serious problem. ''This is a plight that has to be dealt with,'' she
said, before returning to the conference.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com.

This story ran on page C3 of the Boston Globe on 6/20/2003.
) Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

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