Nov. 20, 2004 - 21:05 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Will We ?

In an article in the Friday, November 19th Rocky Mountain News is an article by Roger Fillion of that paper. In part:

197,000 Colo. jobs at risk for offshoring

But vast majority unlikely to be sent away, study says

BROOMFIELD -- "Nearly 200,000 Colorado jobs -- or 9 percent of the state's work force -- are considered "at risk" of getting sent overseas, says a state-sponsored study."

"The study sponsored by the University of Colorado at Denver and the Colorado Institute of Technology, is the most detailed to date looking at the impact of outsourcing on Colorado's economy. the state has the highest concentration of high-tech workers in the nation."

"The study shows that about two-thirds of the 34 Colorado tech-related companies sureyed engage in international outsourcing. Half of the companies expected to boost spending on "offshoring" "somewhat more" or "significantly more."

"Sixty-five percent of companies surveyed were engaged in international outsourcing, with most large companies having offshore operations."

"Companies had offshore operations in 15 countries around the globe, India hosted the lion's share of projects."

"About half of the companies that outsourced work used fewer than 50 overseas employees or contractors."

Offshore work covered a range of IT jobs, including maintenance, software programming and research and development."

"International outsourcing isn't a recent phenomenon among Colorado companies; 54 percet of offshore projects and operations were started before 2001. "I was surprised that so many companies had been dong IT outsourcing as long as they had, back to the middle 1990s," CIT Chief Executive Margaret Cozzens said."

"The study also found that the main reasons companies send work overseas include chaper labor; access to talent and technology; and getting added flexibility that allows companies to turn offshore operations on or off as needed. "It means they don't have to hire workers here and then fire them when things change," Cozzens said. "Cheaper labor does not seem to be the main or only driver."

"Based on the study's findings, IT jobs most likely to be sent overseas include computer programming, Web development, IT maintenance, and software testing and quality assurance. Those that are least likely to go are:

project management; IT jobs requiring close contact with customers; IT specialist jobs that require knowledge of the overall business; and computer and software architecture."

"Reflecting the sensitive nature of the topic, about a dozen Colorado companies declined to participate in the state-sponsored survey."

"This is not easy research to do" Serapio said. "A lot of companies don't want to talk about this."

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Opinions here: I really wonder how large the dozen companies who refused to participate are ? I wonder how much outsourcing they are doing or planning to do ?

I think between labor and management plus the drive to provide dividends to stock holders and huge remunerations to CEOs and their ilk, corporations insisting on using outdated equipment and expecting to make money from that finally lost it for us, many things were sent overseas quite some number of years ago. Big steel for one. And there are others.

When I first went to work for a company in the communications business in 1977 almost all of the components used were of foreign manufacture. Produced by companies which I understand were spearheaded by brains and supervisory brawn from our country. And we have brought in to our country foreign manufacturers such as the Japanese auto industry. Sure they have citizens of ours on the lines -- but the profits, where go they ? Do those companies truly pay taxes here ?

To my mind our government has sold out to the money bags of our country and the present administration is just winding the shebang up, mopping up you might say. But where does that leave us common folk ?

It is my idea that we, all of us should put aside our biases, quirks and look at things with a live and let live philosophy. After all so many of these red flag things have been going on since recorded history, unsolved to this day, so what makes any faction think any law will change things now ? Or any political action group ?

So perhaps we can gather around one organization, a non-partisan one, one who fights for the rights of all of us. ACLU for instance, so often a bad name because they fight for the rights of people who are different and have different outlooks on things than we do. But we can wield a large club, a significant force if we just get our act together, quit quibbling and insist that things be done fairly, but Will We ? . . . . . . . . . �

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