As economy gains, outsourcing surges
The spread of outsourcing is a big reason the US economic recovery so
far is a jobless one, and has stayed that way much longer than in previous
upturns.
Lured by lower costs overseas that enable them to increase profits, companies
like Dell Computer Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., American Express Corp.,
and Citibank employ 20,000 Filipinos to answer their phones. The Philippine
government predicts that call center jobs will double over the next year.
US jobs also are going to Ireland, Russia, India, China, even Ghana.
Despite a Commerce Department report at the end of October that the economy
grew at a 7.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the sharpest growth
in 19 years, the economy still lost 41,000 more jobs.
One school of thought claims that over time, Americans will benefit from
the higher corporate profits that come from outsourcing. Low-level work
will be performed in low-wage countries, saving US employees for more
demanding, higher-paying tasks.
Mike Gildea, executive director of the Department for Professional Employees
of the AFL-CIO, does not believe the explanation that Americans will do
better in the long run. Its a load of crap, he said.
This is exactly what we were told about manufacturing jobs 15 years
ago. (Boston Globe)
Musicians Against Sweatshops
Musicians Against Sweatshops (MASS), is calling on socially conscious
musicians to take a stand for exploited garment workers.
MASS, launched over the summer at the massive Glastonbury festival in
the UK by folk rock legend Billy Bragg, Ethical Threads UK and No Sweat
Apparel, is now taking aim at the multi-billion dollar music merchandising
business.
Bragg is being joined by bands including Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders,
Chumbawumba, and others. These musicians have committed to buying their
merchandise from union shops and worker-owned cooperatives.
Rap icon P Diddy is currently in the headlines because of his clothing
lines use of sweatshop labor. (NoSweatShop.org)
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