Thursday, August 19, 2010

Chuck "Chop Shop" Schumer Itches for Cheap Labor Lobby Cure


(Very Special Thanks to Redbone)

U.S. Itches to Match Indian Outsourcing Wages to Third World Levels

Rash of Cheap Slave Labor Spreads to U.S. like Posion Ivy


Scratching News

Contact with sap from poison ivy, oak, and sumac causes a rash in most people. While the majority of skin rashes are a threat to individuals who come into contact with them, they are not dangerous to others unless they are caused by an infectious disease - such as shingles or scabies. Or the dreaded clap.

But poison ivy, like the deadly U.S. cheap labor lobby that uses educated U.S. citizens as human slave trade bargaining chips with third world hustlers requires prompt treatment to remedy relief to its helpless and unwitting victims. How did the United States devolve into embracing horrific slave labor practices? According to this No Slaves article, India thinks displacing American workers is "trade" and the U.S. is "protectionist". When there are not enough jobs for U.S. citizens, isn't it time to protect U.S. workers? 

Poison ivy is unusually similar to the hubris disease, in how its inhospitable, parasitic hosts skulk around dark places, hoping to continue their assault and avoid the watchful eyes of vigilant rangers wielding potent sprays and machetes to eradicate the disastrous, locally unsustainable effects on the local body politic. There are effective treatments for poison ivy and the unsustainable Neo-Frat Boy Corporate State. (Don't miss the video.)

In this Financial Times article entitled US matches Indian call centre costs, workers “are becoming as cheap to hire in the US as they are in India.” This should come as no surprise, as the H-1B visa is the ultimate rash that the Neo-Frat Boy corporate state has spread to inflict educated American citizens and replace them with cheap imported workers who are hired by foreign outsourcing companies here. So what are our “thought leaders” and legislators doing to eradicate the poison ivy patch aka the Neo-Frat Boy corporate State's disastrous, imported third world slave labor policies?

As U.S. Politicians like Ted Strickland continue to lure foreign outsourcing companies to their states on the U.S. taxpayer dime, others like Senator Chuck “Chop Shop" Schumer recently introduced a bill  that would tax businesses for transferring U.S. based call center jobs to foreign countries by charging them 25 cents for every service call placed abroad. With millions of educated Americans available, why are foreign outsourcing companies moving their operations to the U.S.? Will Schumer's bill discourage more labor arbitrage and foreign outsourcing companies from moving their operations to the U.S.?

The FT article explains:

The move to expand operations in the US also comes as protectionist rhetoric against outsourcers rises in Washington. Last week, Charles Schumer, a US senator, described Indian IT outsourcing companies unflatteringly as “chop shops”, a term referring to places where stolen cars are dismantled for their parts.”

Stolen cars, stolen jobs, whatever. But this is tough talk from Schumer, if nothing more than tough talk. Who will put the brakes on it? The antidote, of course, to treating this rash of cheap labor arbitrage is for Indian outsourcing companies to just entice more U.S. politicians to pony up American taxpayer money to “lure” foreign outsourcing companies to  their states and continue their race to the bottom where it can thrive right here in the Poison Ivy Patch of America.

Somebody is feeling the looooove. More stinging Man-Crushinomics on steroids?

Party on, plebes!

-2Truthy

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chuck "Chop Shop" Schumer is a tool for handing over US jobs to IMPORTED workers.
Where was Schumer when Citigroup's IT workers got replaced by IMPORTED (not 'outsourced') Indian workers who were paid much less?

2Truthy said...

Citigroup, now there's a success story(;! Whether companies outsource jobs American citizens can do to other countries or fill those positions with guest worker visa holders (insourcing) instead, the end result is the same: more displaced U.S. workers, lousier production/quality of goods and services/security breaches, higher unemployment and plummeting wages/compensation.

Is this what our good Senators want for the educated American public who need jobs? When it comes to carrying the water of Sand Hill Rd. and K Street blowhards, they unfortunately appear to follow the Supremes to the letter in exclusively carrying water for their corporate paymasters.

The Democrats, to their limited credit, have been slightly better when it comes to at least yakking about the horrors of selling off our jobs and coming up with 'creative' branding solutions to reframe the problem of kicking US educated citizens to curb in hot pursuit of cheap labor - whether here or abroad.

The Schumer 'humor' bill will humor us with the hope of keeping call center jobs here, and may discourage some companies from outsourcing and encourage others to bring those jobs back here.

A few years ago several workers from an overseas call center used callers' personal information in an identity theft ring. When they were busted, there was a great deal of national concern about safety/privacy issues within outsourced call centers.
Think Chamber of Commerce heeded the call?

It was Senator John Kerry (D-MA) who proposed Senate Bill S.2553 (known then as the “Call Center Consumer’s Right to Know Act of 2006”) that would require employees at a given call center to disclose their physical location and give the caller an alternative to speak to someone locally.

While Schumer's call center bill is arm candy on this hulk of the cheap labor lobby, it is also an outgrowth of sorts on the pressure that has been around in this country for years to seek legislation to protect private information. (Kerry's Senate Bill S.2553 never became law.) It wound up being referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation before it was all but lost and forgotten.