9 Articles Worth Reading
9 Articles Worth Reading
Date: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 1:29 AM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
by Rob Sanchez
April 26, 2005 No. 1241
Article 1:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/041905dnbusretraining.258d2fe9.html
Worker retraining: Unmet potential
Workers find programs are less than they expected. More than three
years into an economic recovery, however, experts and workers say
retooling of America's labor force is proving far less rewarding and
more challenging than promised.
Article 2:
http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=10959
Outsourcing off Los Angeles?
What if you could outsource to a company that offered the cost savings
of an India-based outsourcing firm, but whose facilities were just a
few hours away? Thats the premise of three entrepreneurs in San
Diego, who are in the final throes of launching a company that will
offer software development off the coast of California -- three miles
outside Los Angeles, to be specific. The three plan to buy a used
cruise ship and station it close enough for a half-hour water taxi ride
to shore, but far enough to avoid H1B jurisdiction.
Article 3:
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/22/news-reed.php
Sweatshop on the Sea
Wanted: 600 computer coders to work for cheap on old cruise ship
Two San Diego entrepreneurs figure they have the perfect
software-outsourcing scheme: Moor a ship just offshore from Los Angeles
with hundreds of foreign developers aboard churning out code on the
cheap. With 24-hour operation, the best (and least costly) coders on
the planet, plenty of short-deadline gigs, and unparalleled ease of
travel for the American management team, Roger Green and David Cook
figure SeaCode can beat the domestic competition like a gong.
Article 4:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0422bestwestern22.html
Best Western's offshoring of reservations jobs decried
Best Western hotels have lost customers and money since January, when
the Phoenix company began routing reservation calls through the
Philippines, some hotel owners say. Best Western announced the
offshoring plan and 480 layoffs last December. The staffing cuts
included 80 information technology positions and were expected to save
$25 million to $30 million over five years.
Article 5:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12392-2005Apr23.html
Hospital Services Performed Overseas
When patients needed urgent CT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds late at
night at St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury, Conn., emergency room
workers used to rouse a bleary-eyed staff radiologist from his bed to
read the images. Not anymore. The work now goes to Arjun Kalyanpur --
8,000 miles away in Bangalore, India.
Article 6:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0424indiahealth24.html
India welcomes patients outsourcing themselves
Robert Beeney, a 64-year-old real estate consultant from San Francisco,
lived in pain. When he finally decided to do something about the
discomfort, he spurned all the usual choices. His doctors advised that
he get his hip joint replaced. After doing some research, he decided to
get a different procedure - joint resurfacing - not covered by his
insurance. Instead of going to a nearby hospital, he chose to go to
India and paid $6,600, a fraction of the $25,000 he would have paid at
home for the surgery.
Article 7:
http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty52.htm
H-1B VISA SCAM ON AMERICAN WORKERS
Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman described the H-1B visa program as
another government subsidy (to employers) in 2002. How many more
subsidies can we afford?
Article 8:
http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20050423-104818-2947r.htm
Outsourcing after-effects
Is offshore outsourcing good or harmful for America? To convince
Americans of outsourcing's benefits, corporate outsourcers sponsor
misleading one-sided "studies." But very few people have looked
objectively at the issue. These and the large number of Americans whose
careers were destroyed by outsourcing have a different view of
outsourcing's effect. But so far there has been no debate, just the
shouting down of skeptics as "protectionists."
Article 9
http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/25/nscho125.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/
GCSE exam papers will be sent to India for marking
A major examination board is sending its GCSE papers to India for
marking.The plans are part of a #2 million contract for History,
French, German and Italian papers to be marked in India, where
examiners' salaries are a fifth of those here.
1. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/041905dnbusretraining.258d2fe9.html
Worker retraining: Unmet potential
Workers find programs are less than they expected
08:44 AM CDT on Tuesday, April 19, 2005
By CRAYTON HARRISON and VIKAS BAJAJ / The Dallas Morning News
Ask policy-makers and business leaders what it will take to get the
large jobless population back to work, and they'll frequently offer a
one-word solution: "Retraining."
JOHN DAVID EMMETT/Special Contributor
Bob Martin was laid off from EDS in 2002. His job as a baggage screener
leaves him little time to look for tech work. More than three years
into an economic recovery, however, experts and workers say retooling
of America's labor force is proving far less rewarding and more
challenging than promised.
In North Texas, for instance, many experienced white-collar
professionals who lost their jobs in the technology bust are still
struggling to get reliable full-time work after spending precious
savings on certifications and advanced courses.
AMY CONN-GUTIERREZ/Special Contributor
Bruce Mathews has been unemployed for four years. Education and living
expenses have drained his savings. Some workers are finally adjusting
their pre-bust earnings and professional expectations to match the
modest realities of the day. Older workers are trying to determine
whether rejections based on their incredibly specific technical
qualifications are just thinly disguised age discrimination.
"People are eager to interview until they get you into the interview
room and see that you have gray hair," said Bruce Mathews, who finished
his bachelor's degree and started work on a master's degree in business
administration after he was laid off from Nortel Networks Corp. in
2001. "And then it's, 'Thanks, but no thanks.' "
To be sure, many retraining programs run by government and business
have shown impressive results for workers who go through them, and they
have significant backers.
Also Online
Colleges, EDS seek better ways to train
"Technology changes, but labor lags behind when it comes to change,"
President Bush said at a Maryland community college in March. "We have
a duty and a responsibility to use our assets, like the community
college system, to enable people to get the skills to work."
The administration has proposed increasing funding for certain college
grants and retraining programs, and Congress is debating legislation
that would create it now.
Long-term solution
Economists agree retraining programs can have a powerful impact on
individuals if they are well-designed and funded. And even longtime job
seekers believe retraining has helped them get a foot in the door, if
not a job offer.
BETSY BOCK/Staff Artist But retraining programs can have only a minimal
influence on the short-term employment picture.
"I don't think retraining per se is going to answer the fact that we
don't yet have enough jobs," said Christopher T. King, director of the
Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources at the University
of Texas at Austin.
"My simple conclusion is we still need to be working on generating
sufficient demand. And we ought to be worrying about sectors
strategically and bringing in training and retraining where we need
to."
In March, the economy added 110,000 jobs, less than the 150,000
economists say is needed to merely keep up with population growth.
Since the recession began in 2001 the economy has added a total of
472,000 jobs.
Unemployed longer
In 2004, workers stayed unemployed an average of 19.6 weeks, the
highest since 1983, when they were out for 19.9 weeks.
But jobless workers in the early 1980s saw better days return quickly.
By 1985, the average span of unemployment fell to 15.6 weeks. Midway
through the 2000s, lengthy job searches show little sign of abating.
Mr. Mathews, 52, is a typical case: a technically trained and
experienced worker who hasn't had a full-time job in four years.
He spent half his 30-year career with GTE and the other half with
Nortel. When he was laid off in October 2001, he supported Nortel's
sales of advanced Internet-based phone equipment to a major cable
company.
He completed an unfinished bachelor's degree, thinking it would help
his chances with recruiters. He started an MBA program at Dallas
Baptist University in 2004. He earns some money from contract work, but
education and living expenses have drained most of his and his wife's
savings.
"If a person is young, retraining is a viable alternative," Mr. Mathews
said. "I have come to the opinion that a man who gets laid off and is
above 40, he needs to go and find his own business and become an
entrepreneur."
So Mr. Mathews, a resident of Fairview, has developed a business plan
to provide wireless high-speed Internet service. Finding investors is
proving challenging, he said.
Age bias?
Part of the problem, job seekers say, is that companies don't put
enough value on workers with decades of experience in their industries.
Experienced workers may not know the latest software application or
business practice, but they have vast experience dealing with customers
or managing teams on tight deadlines. The technical knowledge is far
easier to learn, they say.
Bob Martin lost his job in Electronic Data Systems Corp.'s 2002
layoffs. Over his 15-year career at the company, Mr. Martin, 43, rose
from entry-level programmer to technical manager, where he supervised
20 to 30 people handling internal administrative projects.
He began looking for work shortly after the layoff, aiming for project
management jobs where he felt he'd be a logical fit. But many employers
wanted him to have experience in programming languages he didn't know.
"I keep running into roadblocks," he said.
He thought about taking some technical training to fill the gaps in his
resume. But employers told him it wouldn't matter; they were looking
for someone who had three to five years of experience in the latest
technologies.
"Why should I go off and shell out $500 to $600 to go take a job course
that's not going to do me any good?" Mr. Martin said.
Age is another frustrating element of job searches. Many older workers
are convinced employers shun them, not wanting to use valuable
resources to hire workers who will retire in a few years. Younger
workers, with lower salaries, trump older workers with experience, said
Robert Pearson, a 65-year-old programmer who's been searching for work
for four years.
"We're in the Lord of the Flies era, where anybody who knows anything
is not to be trusted," he said.
There is hope, though. Some jobless workers said they've had more
returned calls from potential employers in the last few months.
In the Telecom Corridor north of Dallas, start-up companies are having
a harder time finding qualified candidates for some executive positions
and software jobs, said Ron Nash, partner at venture-capital firm
Interwest Partners. To keep growing, the companies have begun training
new hires in the latest technologies, such as Internet telephony.
"They all are straining to get people," he said. "Go back two years
ago, and everybody had stacks of resumes."
Lots of takers
Another factor will reduce employers' steady supply of workers. Many
longtime job seekers say their savings are running dangerously low,
forcing them to take job offers they wouldn't have accepted a few years
ago.
For some, that will mean taking an entry-level job in their former line
of work, getting experience in the latest technologies and
requirements. For some, it means leaving their old industries.
Mr. Martin, the former EDS manager, took a job as a baggage screener
with the Transportation Security Administration about a year ago. He
has since been promoted and now supervises a screening checkpoint.
He still hopes to return to the technology industry, but his 40-hour
workload leaves little time for job hunting. His airport job gives him
frequent glimpses of his past life.
"I'll see a bunch of people dressed like a bunch of professionals
flying off to a business meeting," he said. "It'll just hit you that,
OK, well, there's a professional world, and then there's the world of
TSA.
"I'd like to get back into the professional world."
E-mail charrison@dallasnews.com
and vbajaj@dallasnews.com
By historical standards, the 2000s have not been a good time to lose a
job. The average number of weeks that the unemployed stay out of work
has been at its highest levels since 1983, according to government
statistics.
2. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=10959
Outsourcing off Los Angeles?
By Linda L. Briggs
What if you could outsource to a company that offered the cost savings
of an India-based outsourcing firm, but whose facilities were just a
few hours away?
Thats the premise of three entrepreneurs in San Diego, who are in
the final throes of launching a company that will offer software
development off the coast of California -- three miles outside Los
Angeles, to be specific.
The three plan to buy a used cruise ship and station it close enough
for a half-hour water taxi ride to shore, but far enough to avoid H1B
jurisdiction. According to CEO David Cook, who was a tanker ship
captain before going into IT ten years ago, project pricing "will be
comparable to a distant-shore firm.
By stationing the ship in international waters, the company, called
SeaCode, will be able to remain close to U.S. clients while picking and
choosing IT talent from around the world -- something that tightening
H1B visa requirements have made difficult in the U.S.
Depending on your point of view, it may also allow them to pay less
than the rate a team of U.S. developers would command.
That assumes that the talent is willing to live on a ship, of course,
which may not be as tough as it sounds. Cook says the ship will retain
all of its cruise ship facilities and will feed and house workers in
style. During off hours, programming teams can partake of the ships
recreational facilities or head for the lights of L.A. on a water taxi,
since each worker will be required to have a U.S. tourist visa, Cook
says.
The offshore-on-a-ship concept isnt the only radical idea here. The
ships 600 or so developers and project managers will form assorted
around-the-clock development teams. When one shift finishes, the next
shift will pick up the same project. That unusual arrangement will
allow the company to finish jobs in half the time typically allocated
while maintaining equivalent quality and control. "A key part of the
plan is having everyone together there on the ship," Cook says. "We
call them pods and pod leaders. The pods all live in the same area in
the ship, work at the same time, go ashore together. Its a natural
function of what happens on a ship."
The idea, which came to light two weeks ago in a blog entry at
Sourcingmag.com, a Web site that covers IT outsourcing, has generated
some predictable heat. Longtime IT columnist John Dvorak disparaged the
idea as an "Indian slave ship" in his blog
(http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=1767), then posted a contribution from
a reader showing the ship as a giant golf course
(http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?m=20050408).
At first blush, admits COO Roger Green, it sounds like theyre trying
to avoid U.S. taxes, regulations and pay rates. Not so, he maintains.
SeaCode will be a U.S. corporation, and the ship will fall under a
number of state and federal regulations. Green, who has managed
outsourcing projects before, says just 10 percent of every dollar spent
will go to paying developers -- most of whom will probably be non-U.S.
citizens. Remaining expenses will overhead -- for equipment and
supplies, fuel and other costs -- all purchased in the U.S., the three
say.
How much will developers be paid? That will depend on skill set, not
country of origin. Cook says they arent interested in competing for
"low-level, Visual Basic-type" work, but rather, enterprise-type
projects that require advanced coding and project management skills.
That may well mean hiring U.S. workers for some of the slots, the three
say, workers who will be paid at a rate comparable to what theyd
earn in the U.S.
For non-U.S. developers, "The take-home money [will be] the same as if
someone was working as an H1B inside this country," Cook says.
"Well pay for your skills," Cook says. The rate may not be
competitive for an L.A. developer "in the lower-level ranks," he says,
"but as you become a manager, absolutely." As for non-U.S. workers,
"youre going to find [wages] far higher than the country youre
from. Youre getting paid so well that Indian [workers] will be able
to go home and pay cash for a house."
The team programming concept comes naturally to the three, since two of
the founders, Cook and CTO Joe Conway, have worked on ships. There,
they say, its natural to hand tasks, even highly complex ones, off
to the next shift. Conway, who has a broad and deep background in
software development, says he did that repeatedly aboard Navy nuclear
subs at an earlier point in his career.
Cook also says that SeaCode will be able to hire many highly talented
women developers, who because of social norms often have difficulty
finding work in third-world countries. "If you go to India, some
incredibly talented women [developers] have a very difficult time
getting a job." In contrast, Cook says, his company specifically plans
to hire some percentage of women to take advantage of that overlooked
talent pool.
The company will use microwave and U.S. providers for phone and
Internet access, thus addressing a common outsourcing concern:
ownership of intellectual property. Under international law, Cook says,
the first point of contact with land determines whose laws will apply.
"One of reasons were doing things this way is so U.S law will
apply."
Another common outsourcing concern, security, is also addressed, he
says. Physical access to the ship is clearly limited, and any code
transmitted moves immediately onto secure U.S. Internet lines.
The company has secured funding and is ready to launch once they sign
on the first client, Green says. At that point, theyll move quickly
to secure the ship (a used cruise ship goes for $10 million to $300
million, Cook says), hire the right team and get started. At this
point, theyre just three to six months from having a team aboard
writing code, Green says.
Linda Briggs is a freelance writer based in San Diego, Calif. She can
be reached at lbriggs@landabriggs.com.
3. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/22/news-reed.php
APRIL 22 - 28, 2005
Sweatshop on the Sea
Wanted: 600 computer coders to work for cheap on old cruise ship
by MACK REED
Two San Diego entrepreneurs figure they have the perfect
software-outsourcing scheme: Moor a ship just offshore from Los Angeles
with hundreds of foreign developers aboard churning out code on the
cheap.
With 24-hour operation, the best (and least costly) coders on the
planet, plenty of short-deadline gigs, and unparalleled ease of travel
for the American management team, Roger Green and David Cook figure
SeaCode can beat the domestic competition like a gong.
More and more, American software firms are outsourcing jobs overseas.
But dealing with foreign code shops could be a logistical clusterfuck:
Language barriers with foreign programmers. Sketchy quality control.
Production delays. And you waste all that damn time crossing the
Pacific and then slogging through traffic in Delhi or Seoul or Manila
just to do business.
Picture this instead: You buy a used cruise ship for $10 million to
$300 million. You crew it, moor it in international waters just off El
Segundo and wire it with fat T3 pipe fed by shore-to-ship microwave.
You hire 600 foreign software developers and bring em aboard to live
full time, with the promise of private cabins, better wages than they
get in Asia, plus R&R in fabulous Los Angeles just a 30-minute
water-taxi ride away.
Break the coders down into two work-group shifts per 24-hour cycle and
start feeding them jobs from U.S. video-game and cell-phone companies
lured by your cheaper rates and faster-than-average delivery schedules.
Make the work groups -- or "pods" -- collaborate from shift to shift.
Pump code through the pipeline around the clock.
Your plants close to home and hearth, but free of U.S. wage
standards. Free of foreign entanglements. Free of Asian sexism that
often restricts outsourcing firms to male-only workers.
And since youre free, basically, of any serious competition for your
cutthroat time-and-money margin, youre banging out jobs and invoices
with greased efficiency. In short, you get rich fast.
SeaCodes Green and Cook are already shopping for a good vessel, and
have worked out the development flow and carrot-and-stick psych profile
that they say will make it work:
"Engineers can be kind of quirky in some ways, but they can be really
productive if you give them the right setting," Green said in an
interview with SourcingMag.com. "We think were going to be putting
them in the perfect setting. Very few distractions. Theyll be with
similarly motivated people who are really interested in advancing and
doing this engineering work. Itll be this perfect place for getting
engineers to work."
Half the developers will have the day shift, and half will have the
night shift. "But theyll probably meet in the middle and chitchat."
Green couldnt be reached for comment, and Cook -- who claims to be
an IT expert and former supertanker captain -- declined, saying he was
too "swamped with clients" to talk with the Weekly.
But if learned skepticism were killer waves, the good ship SeaCode
would be swamped before it left drydock. The U.S. coding communitys
reaction seems divided evenly between cold criticism and hot scorn:
"As a producer, I think one of the biggest stumbling blocks SeaCode
faces is team continuity," said Tom Sloper, a 25-year veteran game
producer/designer and game-biz consultant who speaks often at game
conferences and lives in Mar Vista, within eyeshot of SeaCodes
intended moorage. "This idea just doesnt make sense to me."
SeaCodes stated plan to focus on small projects like cell-phone
games makes more sense than going after the big-console game market,
Sloper said. But the vaunted round-the-clock schedule could be more
headache than asset: "The savings in man-hour crunching will
undoubtedly be squandered in managerial missteps or intershift
[interpod] rifts. Not to mention morale problems resulting from living
offshore."
IT columnist John Dvorak was a bit more blunt in a recent post at
Dvorak Uncensored: He offered SeaCode his unofficial "A-hole Award":
"This concept is unbelievable!" Dvorak blogged. "Some people are
proposing a slave ship for coders to avoid H1B visa issues to get cheap
code. Hey jerk-offs, how about paying Americans a decent salary? We
have plenty of coders looking for work. It sounds like a joke, but
its supposedly dead serious . . . Its beyond nuts."
Then there are the vagaries of operating in international waters:
Moored or running, ships must hew to regulations of the International
Maritime Organization and the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea.
Pollution? Six hundred people make a hell of a lot of sewage to be
dumping in one place 24/7. Security? If pirates turn a jealous eye to
all that high-end hardware, SeaCode will have to lean on the Coast
Guard of the very authority its seeking to circumvent -- the U.S.
government.
"Good luck to em," said Chris Chase, a spokesman for the Port of Los
Angeles. "Ships are awfully expensive to operate . . . Im not sure
Id want to be the one to do it with my own money."
Mack Reed publishes LAVoice.org.
4. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0422bestwestern22.html
Best Western's offshoring of reservations jobs decried
Some hotel owners want it stopped
John Stearns
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 22, 2005 12:00 AM
Best Western hotels have lost customers and money since January, when
the Phoenix company began routing reservation calls through the
Philippines, some hotel owners say.
They want the company to stop the practice before the transition is
completed in September. They fear customers are being driven away
because agents stumble over U.S. terminology, colloquialisms, geography
and unusual questions.
"The outsourcing is absolutely the worst thing that has ever happened
to us," said a longtime Best Western owner in the Midwest who asked not
to be identified.
But other owners and Best Western International Inc. representatives
say offshoring reservations duties from Phoenix to Manila is working
well and improving. They also think it ultimately could produce better
results than when the work was done in Phoenix. A company spokesman
cites few owner complaints.
Offshoring is not new among U.S. companies seeking cost savings.
Forrester Research Inc., an independent technology research company in
Cambridge, Mass., estimates 3.4 million U.S. services jobs will go
offshore by 2015.
But offshoring by Best Western, whose worldwide headquarters have been
in Phoenix since 1966, has struck a nerve for some.
Best Western announced the offshoring plan and 480 layoffs last
December. The staffing cuts included 80 information technology
positions and were expected to save $25 million to $30 million over
five years.
The company plans to direct savings to marketing and other brand
enhancements, including a better Web site, where more customers are
making reservations.
Internet bookings account for 44 percent of all company bookings. They
were 4 percent in 1998. Telephone bookings declined from 56 percent of
the reservation mix to 27 percent in the past six years.
Currently, about 60 percent of reservation calls are still going
through Phoenix, and 40 percent to Manila. The company had planned to
conclude reservations offshoring by May but now is keeping about 100
agents in Phoenix through summer.
The Midwest hotel owner says that's because outsourcing is failing.
Best Western says it's to handle the busy summer season.
After the summer, 75 of the Phoenix agents will lose their jobs, 25
will remain in customer-service roles and all reservation calls once
handled in Phoenix will shift to Manila.
Some Best Western owners support the offshoring.
"The quality of people over there is so much higher than what the
quality of people here is," said Joel Manly, who owns a Glendale Best
Western and visited the Manila center. He arrived opposed to the move
and left supportive.
Best Western board members also have visited Manila and left impressed,
according to e-mails provided to The Arizona Republic by one owner.
Most Manila workers are college graduates, speak English well, know
U.S. geography and consider the jobs prestigious, Manly said.
Manly expects the Manila conversion rate to beat Phoenix eventually,
adding, "The question is going to be: Why didn't we do this before?"
The conversion rate is the percentage of calls converted to bookings.
In Phoenix, the conversion rate steadies at about 31 percent to 32
percent after agents have worked about two months, corporate spokesman
David Trumble said. The Manila conversion rate is running about 26
percent, a normal rate in training, he said.
"We expect that conversion rate obviously to improve as we have more
time under our belts," he said. "We're satisfied with the conversion
rate, and we continue to see improvement."
One longtime owner in the Southwest claims the historical conversion
rate in Phoenix has been about 35 percent and believes Manila's current
rate is closer to 23 percent and maxed out.
With $280 million in projected bookings through the reservations center
this year, he figures the one-third lower Manila rate could cost
members $90 million.
Best Western is a non-profit association of member hotels. It reported
a "strong" financial position after last fiscal year, with cash
balances of $15.7 million and net assets of $14.8 million. The company
didn't need to make the move financially, the Southwestern owner said.
Instead, members will feel the cuts, he said.
"I don't think it's a smart move, and I think there's a lot of members
that believe that as well," the owner said. He also asked not to be
named.
Trumble said about one to two dozen owners have complained out of 2,400
members in North America, an "insignificant amount."
Nationally, outsourcing will continue, said John McCarthy, Forrester's
vice president of Asia-Pacific Research.
While there have been some hiccups among companies, the trend won't
ease as Internet price competition forces companies to outsource what
jobs they can and focus their employees on being more competitive, he
said. To suggest some offshoring reversal is occurring because of
problems "is naive and flat-out wrong to date."
Best Western also is outsourcing some of its information technology to
India but has scaled back the 80 planned layoffs after failing to reach
suitable terms with one company. Forty-five workers now will be
retained after being told they would be cut.
Of the 35 others, 10 already are working locally for another
outsourcing company, six were laid off and 19 more will be cut by June
as work on booking software, finance software and the company Web site
continues shifting to India.
Brian Blinn, who owns a Best Western in the Boston suburb of Haverhill,
Mass., hates to see U.S. jobs lost but believes Best Western is moving
in the right direction.
"I feel no different than one year ago when all the calls were going to
Phoenix," Blinn said.
While the owners complaining about the move say it's time to pull the
plug on outsourcing, they're still loyal to Best Western.
"It's still the best chain to be part of as long as we can get it
straightened out here," said a West Coast owner, who hopes the Manila
agents improve. "But right now, they're not."
5. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12392-2005Apr23.html
Hospital Services Performed Overseas
Training, Licensing Questions Raised
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 24, 2005; Page A01
When patients needed urgent CT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds late at
night at St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury, Conn., emergency room
workers used to rouse a bleary-eyed staff radiologist from his bed to
read the images. Not anymore.
The work now goes to Arjun Kalyanpur -- 8,000 miles away in Bangalore,
India. When it is the middle of the night in Connecticut, Kalyanpur is
in the middle of his day, handling calls from St. Mary's and dozens of
other American hospitals that transmit pictures to him electronically
so he can quickly assess them and advise their doctors.
Kalyanpur runs one of an increasing number of "nighthawk" companies
operating in the United States and overseas to take advantage of
time-zone differences and the latest technology by having radiologists
read images from such far-flung places as Hawaii, India, Australia,
Switzerland, Israel and Brazil.
The companies, and the doctors and hospitals using them, say the trend
is improving care by guaranteeing that well-rested radiologists are
always available, even in the middle of the night, even for the
smallest hospitals and in the most rural areas.
Skeptics, however, say the practice raises a host of concerns. Are the
radiologists qualified? Is communication as good when the radiologists
are so far away? Can an overseas doctor be held accountable when
something goes wrong? Is anyone ensuring that properly trained and
licensed radiologists are actually doing the work? Is patient privacy
being protected?
Both sides see the trend as the leading edge of a movement toward
greater use of telemedicine, which is widening the spectrum of care
doctors can provide from afar and enabling more outsourcing of medical
services overseas.
"What we're seeing with teleradiology is really just the beginning,"
said Jonathan D. Linkous, executive director of the American
Telemedicine Association. "Similar things are already starting to
happen in other areas, such as pathology."
The trend has sparked a flurry of regulatory initiatives, including
proposed state and federal legislation designed to ensure that doctors
performing the work are properly trained and licensed, and that
patients are notified whenever information about them is transmitted
elsewhere, especially overseas.
"Patients have the right to know, and the right to say no, before their
X-rays or other private health information is offshored to countries
that lack strong privacy safeguards," said Rep. Edward J. Markey
(D-Mass.), who with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) recently
introduced legislation that would require patient consent in advance.
The advent of remote radiology services was prompted by various
factors, including a shortage of radiologists and rapid advances in
imaging technology, which has caused a sharp increase in the number of
tests. As a result, many hospital radiologists have a hard time keeping
up with the demand, especially at night.
"We don't have the staff to have some guy up all night and then come
back in the next day," said Robert Lehman, who heads the St. Mary's
radiology department. "It's just too dangerous."
In response, St. Mary's and hundreds of other hospitals and radiology
practices have begun outsourcing, allowing their staff radiologists to
come to work fresh each morning.
"I'm convinced patient care is improved," said Paul Berger of NightHawk
Radiology Services. The company, based in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, has
about 40 radiologists in Zurich and Sydney serving about 600 U.S.
hospitals and other facilities, including 16 in Virginia.
But skeptics worry that remote radiology operations may be staffed with
one or two U.S.-certified radiologists who approve reports prepared by
less-qualified technicians, a practice known as "ghosting."
"The nightmare scenario is you have one or two people with licenses and
a room with 25 or 30 computer terminals staffed by people who may or
may not be radiologists," said John Haaga, chairman of the radiology
department at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Wipro Infotech, a large company in India that provides a variety of
services to U.S. companies, began using non-U.S. licensed radiologists
to provide "preliminary" interpretations of images for U.S. hospitals
in 2003. Wipro halted the service because of intense criticism but
remains interested because the market has only increased, officials
said.
"The demand is huge. We get a couple of calls every week," Wipro's T.K.
Kurien said. "We'd like to see some kind of process where our guys
could provide this kind of service to hospitals in the United States."
NightHawk and several other companies providing the offshore radiology
services say they hire only U.S.-trained doctors who are licensed in
every state where they have clients and credentialed at the hospitals
they serve. But policing the services remains a concern.
"Because of the ease of moving this stuff around, the problem of being
able to authenticate who is doing the work is an issue," said Robert
Wise of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care
Organizations, which is upgrading its standards for accrediting
hospitals in response to the trend.
The companies providing the service, and the hospitals using it, argue
that the reports are double-checked each morning by staff radiologists,
so questionable interpretations would quickly be spotted.
"We'll find little things here and there, the same way we find little
discrepancies amongst our own radiologists," said Russell McWey, chief
radiologist at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, which uses
NightHawk. "But there's been no major discrepancies."
But some say there are other potential pitfalls, such as possible
communication problems when doctors are so far apart and are strangers.
"It's difficult to point out something on an image if you're not
actually standing there in the room with the other doctor looking at
the same image," said Arl Van Moore, who chaired an American College of
Radiology task force that issued guidelines on the practice in
February.
Proponents say most conversations between radiologists and
emergency-room doctors take place over the phone, even when the doctor
is down the hall or at home, making it just as easy to communicate from
thousands of miles away.
"You can't reach over and slap them on the back, but every other aspect
of the interaction is preserved," Kalyanpur said.
Nevertheless, Kalyanpur is embroiled in a malpractice case where
communication has become an issue. The Grand View Hospital in
Sellersville, Pa., and one of its emergency-room doctors is being sued
in the case of a man sent home with a diagnosis of diverticulitis. He
died hours later when an artery in his heart burst.
The hospital and doctor allege Kalyanpur failed to make it clear that
more testing was urgently needed to follow up on a CT scan he read.
Kalyanpur denies any wrongdoing.
"Over the past few years, we have worked very hard against the
'anti-India' factor to build up a U.S.-standard company," Kalyanpur
wrote in an e-mail. "Our quality reports are saving lives every night
in the U.S."
Some also worry about what will happen when mistakes occur. Will a
radiologist on another continent be as easily held liable? Could a
physician in Bangalore or Beirut be compelled to come to the United
States for court proceedings?
"If your radiologist is in Australia or India, I'm not so sure how easy
it would be to hold them accountable," said Dennis F. O'Brien of the
Maryland Trial Lawyers Association.
Companies offering the services say they have the same malpractice
insurance as any U.S.-based radiologist, and such cases would be
handled no differently.
"It would be very much in their interest to return to the United States
to participate in any proceedings," said Sean Casey, chief executive of
Virtual Radiologic Consultants of Eden Prairie, Minn. "This is where
their livelihood is. They're not going to risk losing their licenses."
6. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0424indiahealth24.html
India welcomes patients outsourcing themselves
Saritha Rai
New York Times
Apr. 24, 2005 12:00 AM
BANGALORE, India - Robert Beeney, a 64-year-old real estate consultant
from San Francisco, lived in pain. When he finally decided to do
something about the discomfort, he spurned all the usual choices.
His doctors advised that he get his hip joint replaced. After doing
some research, he decided to get a different procedure - joint
resurfacing - not covered by his insurance.
Instead of going to a nearby hospital, he chose to go to India and paid
$6,600, a fraction of the $25,000 he would have paid at home for the
surgery.
This winter, Beeney flew to Hyderabad, in southern India, and had the
surgery at Apollo Hospital by a London-trained specialist, Vijay Bose.
Two weeks later, Beeney said that he was walking around the Taj Mahal
"like a tourist."
Beeney's story is becoming increasingly common, as Europeans and
Americans, looking for world-class treatments at prices a fourth or
fifth of what they would be at home, are traveling to India. Modern
hospitals, skilled doctors and advanced treatments are helping
foreigners overcome qualms about getting medical treatments in India.
Beeney and patients like him are outsourcing themselves for medical
services.
About 150,000 foreigners visited India for medical treatments in the
year ending in March 2004, the Confederation of Indian Industry
reported. McKinsey & Co., a management consultant in New York, said
that foreign visitors would help Indian hospitals earn 100 billion
rupees ($2.3 billion) by 2012.
"Health is an emotional issue; it's not like buying a toy made abroad,"
said Gautam Kumra, analyst for McKinsey, based in New Delhi. "You
cannot deny the power of economics."
While the number of patients from the West still is small in India, the
trend is expected to grow as populations age and health costs balloon.
In India, cardiac surgeries cost about one-fifth of what they would in
the United States; orthopedic treatments cost about one-fourth as much
and cataract surgeries are as low as one-tenth of their cost at
American hospitals.
Kumra, who also advises the auto industry, noted that a corporation
like General Motors spends $5 billion for health care annually.
To curb spending, corporations are being forced to look at creative
low-cost solutions.
For instance, radiologists working for Wipro, a software and
information technology company based in Bangalore, analyze X-rays and
scans from U.S. hospitals for a fraction of the cost. A diagnostics
firm, SRL Ranbaxy, based in New Delhi, tests blood serum from British
hospitals.
Health specialists say that sending patients to India for treatment is
not as unthinkable as it was 20 years ago.
"India is well-positioned to expand into this area of outsourcing,"
said John Lovelock, an analyst in Ontario for global industries for
Gartner.
"India is equipped to provide long-term in-patient rehabilitation
services, which are labor intensive, require large facilities and are
underserviced in North America."
In the past four years, the Apollo Hospital chain, with 18 hospitals in
Asia, has treated 43,000 foreigners. Apollo's founder, Prathap C.
Reddy, 73, a surgeon trained at Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston, said that health care in India had changed drastically since he
opened his first hospital in 1983.
Now, he has 200 doctors on his staff who are qualified to work in the
United States, and he has many wealthy Indian expatriates as clients.
7. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty52.htm
H-1B VISA SCAM ON AMERICAN WORKERS
By Frosty Wooldridge and Dr. Gene Nelson
April 23, 2005
Our elected officials in Washington, DC take an oath of office to
defend and protect American citizens. Senators and
Representatives pledge their honor to work for the benefit of their
American constituents who voted them into office. However, today, after
one decade, 890,000 high tech American citizens were forced to train
foreign workers and then were fired via the H-1B visa program. In 2000,
not satisfied with 115,000 visas per year, Congress increased the
annual quota to more than 195,000 visas. That visa is why you hear a
foreign voice with broken English when you call for high tech help.
Its your clue that another American citizen is out of work.
Millions of college--trained American citizens have suffered
unemployment via Congressional actions. While employers raise the false
claim that positions are being "offshored," in reality, immigrants from
nations such as India, China, and Russia are displacing American
citizens while eroding American wage scales. Simultaneously, the
economic elite, who capture most of the value added by these
professionals, are experiencing unprecedented increases in their
personal wealth - as working Americans economic stability teeters on
the brink.
Hundreds of thousands of American citizen recent college graduates are
unable to find work. Instead, they are being forced to take
low--skill positions that make scant use of their training. Is this
the America we aspire to? Many still live, uninsured, with their
parents. Employers covet the "fresh cheap young blood" from Third World
nations, instead.
Government leaders trumpet "rising productivity" and continue to
suggest that job creation will eventually catch up with population
growth. The grim reality is that millions of jobs have been cut since
2000. Those visa holders are "officially" working only eight hours per
day. Thus, having millions of these people working as indentured
servants in exchange for potential employer "green card" sponsorship
results in tens of millions of hours per year of uncompensated overtime
- an employer windfall worth billions.
Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman described the H-1B visa program as
another government subsidy (to employers) in 2002. How many more
subsidies can we afford? Highly skilled and experienced professionals
with PhDs and two decades of "high tech" employment are told by
employers they are "overqualified." This thinly--disguised illegal
employment discrimination on the basis of age and national origin has
meant that many Americans have been seeking full - time employment
since 2001. (One employer, Genuity, Inc. retained its special visa
holders while axing the jobs of hundreds of American citizens.)
It should be clear by now that these special visa programs, which are a
form of corporate welfare, often as a quid - pro - quo for generous
campaign contributions, are destroying America as a participatory
democracy. Plutocracy is becoming the power behind many government
leaders.
A BRIEF HISTORY
The history of these employer - designed "cheap labor" programs
includes many ethical lapses. The H visa was created in 1952 to give
"special handling" to western range-land owners who wanted inexpensive
imported sheepherders. The term "special handling" means that employers
dont have to attest that they are usurping American citizens
access to jobs. In 1976, in response to still undisclosed
considerations, the Association of American Universities (AAU)
successfully lobbied U.S. Representative Joshua Eilberg for the passage
of the "Eilberg Amendment" which granted universities special handling
for college professors and researchers. AAU members imported
unprecedented numbers of these skilled professionals at bargain -
basement prices, since the employer could sponsor the special visa
holder for permanent residency after six years of quasi - slave
labor. These colleges cut off the chance for bright, dedicated American
citizens to pursue a career in research or teaching. Instead, some
worked in those fields for a total of six years, but were discarded by
employers like yesterdays newspaper.
Even more shocking, employers are now importing people to work in very
sensitive positions affecting our nations infrastructure and
national defense. Non - American workers are teaching our young
people in elementary schools - and teaching some very un - American
values, (such as how unimportant women are, based on the entrenched
cultures of India, Middle East and mainland China) to their receptive
young charges.
IMPORTING POVERTY
The goal of most employers is clear. Drive down U.S. wages with labor
gluts that result from removing all protections against displacement by
desperate Third World wage earners.
OUR NEXT STEPS
What can be done to equalize the power of American citizens against
these "robber barons?" The first step is to widely circulate
information like this article. The opposition annually spends millions
of dollars in sophisticated public relations campaigns. American
citizens, harnessing the power of the Internet, can counteract their
propaganda.
Joining organizations such as WashTech.com, NAEA.US, NumbersUSA.com and
FAIRUS.ORG gives you access to citizen empowerment tools to take back
this democracy before it is too late. The leadership of reformers such
as U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo should be supported and encouraged.
We hope it does not take bloody street riots to re-establish American
democracy.
The job you save by becoming an activist today may be your job
tomorrow.
Write for that 28-point action letter to stop this nation-destroying
madness. For you West Coast night owls, every Thursday you can catch
yours truly in Las Vegas, Nevada on Mark Edwards "Wake Up America"
talk show on 50,000watt KDWN-Am-720 10:00 PM to midnight PT, or on the
worldwide internet at www.wakeupamericafoundation.com On the home page,
click on www.americanvoiceradio.com heard around the world. Five nights
a week, Edwards engages patriots from across the nation to bring you
the latest on this nation-destroying invasion. If you are affected by
illegal aliens, please write 600 to 800 words for national publication.
Your name will remain private.
Dr. Gene Nelson (c0030180@airmail.net) has been campaigning for reform
of American labor markets for two decades. He is a sought - after
source utilized by many television, radio, and print reporters. He has
lobbied during many visits to Washington, DC for reform of the special
visa programs. In 1999, he presented testimony critical of the H-1B
visa program in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is writing a book
An American Scam : How Special Interests Undermine National Security
with Endless Techie Gluts.
A 27 page summary version is available gratis via an email request to
Dr. Gene Nelson c0030180@airmail.net
Frosty Wooldridge possesses a unique view of the world, cultures and
families in that he has bicycled around the globe 100,000 miles, on six
continents in the past 26 years.
He has written hundreds of articles (regularly) for 17 national and 2
international magazines. He has had hundreds of editorials published in
top national newspapers including the Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post,
Albany Herald and Christian Science Monitor.
His first book, "HANDBOOK FOR TOURING BICYCLISTS" by Falcon Press is
available nationwide. His second book "STRIKE THREE! TAKE YOUR BASE" by
the Brookfield Reader published in January 2002. His bicycle books
include "BICYCLING AROUND THE WORLD."
His latest book. IMMIGRATIONS UNARMED INVASION - DEADLY
CONSEQUENCES.
Frosty Wooldridge has guest lectured at Cornell University, teaching
creative writing workshops, magazine writing at Michigan State
University, and has presented environmental science lectures at the
University of Colorado, University of Denver and Regis University. He
also lectures on "Religion and Ethics" at Front Range College in
Colorado.
Website: www.FrostyWooldridge.com
E:Mail: frostyw@juno.com
8. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20050423-104818-2947r.htm
Outsourcing after-effects
By Paul Craig Roberts
Published April 24, 2005
Is offshore outsourcing good or harmful for America? To convince
Americans of outsourcing's benefits, corporate outsourcers sponsor
misleading one-sided "studies." But very few people have looked
objectively at the issue. These and the large number of Americans whose
careers were destroyed by outsourcing have a different view of
outsourcing's effect. But so far there has been no debate, just the
shouting down of skeptics as "protectionists."
Now comes an important new book, "Outsourcing America," published
by the American Management Association. Authors and brothers Ron and
Anil Hira, are experts on the subject. One is a professor at the
Rochester Institute of Technology, the other a professor at Simon
Fraser University.
The authors note, despite the enormous stakes for all Americans,
there is denial among policymakers and corporate champions about
outsourcing's adverse effects on the U.S. The Hiras interject harsh
reality where delusion has ruled.
In what might be an understatement, a University of California
study found 14 million white-collar jobs are vulnerable to offshore
outsourcing. These are not just call-center operators, customer-service
and back-office jobs, but information technology, accounting,
architecture, advanced engineering design, news reporting, stock
analysis and medical and legal services. The authors note these
American Dream jobs of upward mobility generate the bulk of tax
revenues to fund our education, health, infrastructure and Social
Security systems.
The loss of these jobs "is fool's gold for companies." Corporate
America's short-term mentality, stemming from bonuses tied to quarterly
results, causes U.S. companies to lose not only their best employees --
their human capital -- but also the consumers who buy their products.
Employees displaced by foreigners and left unemployed or in lower-paid
work have reduced power in the consumer market. They provide fewer
retirement savings for new investment.
No-think economists assume new, better jobs are on the way for
displaced Americans, but no economists can identify these jobs. The
authors note "the track record for the re-employment of displaced U.S.
workers is abysmal: "The Department of Labor reports that more than 1
in 3 workers who are displaced remains unemployed, and many of those
who are lucky enough to find jobs take major pay cuts. Many former
manufacturing workers who were displaced a decade ago because of
manufacturing that went offshore took training courses and found jobs
in the information technology sector. They are now facing the
unenviable situation of having their second career disappear overseas."
American economists are so inattentive to outsourcing's perils they
fail to realize the incentive that leads to outsourcing one tradable
good or service does the same for all tradable goods and services. In
the 21st century the U.S. economy has only been able to create jobs in
nontradable domestic services -- the hallmark of a Third World labor
force.
Prior to offshore outsourcing, U.S. employees were shielded against
low-wage foreign labor. Americans worked with more capital and better
technology, and their higher productivity protected their higher wages.
Outsourcing forces Americans to "compete head-to-head with foreign
workers" by "undermining U.S. workers' primary competitive advantage
over foreign workers: their physical presence in the U.S." and "by
providing those overseas workers with the same technologies."
The result is a lose-lose situation for American employees,
American businesses and the U.S. government. Outsourcing has brought
record unemployment in engineering fields and a major drop in
university enrollments in technical and scientific disciplines. Even
many of the remaining jobs are filled by lower-paid foreigners brought
in on H-1b and L-1 visas. American employees are discharged after being
forced to train their foreign replacements.
U.S. corporations justify their offshore operations as essential to
gain a foothold in emerging Asian markets. The Hira brothers believe
this is self-delusion. "There is no evidence that they will be able to
outcompete local Chinese and Indian companies, who are very rapidly
assimilating the technology and know-how from the local U.S. plants. In
fact, studies show that Indian IT companies have been consistently
outcompeting their U.S. counterparts, even in U.S. markets. Thus, it is
time for CEOs to start thinking about whether they are fine with their
own jobs being outsourced as well."
The authors further note the national security implications of
outsourcing "have been largely ignored."
Outsourcing is rapidly eroding America's superpower status.
Beginning in 2002 the U.S. began running trade deficits in advanced
technology products with Asia, Mexico and Ireland. Since these
countries are not leaders in advanced technology, the deficits
obviously stem from U.S. offshore manufacturing. In effect, the U.S. is
giving away its technology, which is rapidly being captured, while U.S.
firms reduce themselves to a brand name with a sales force.
In an appendix, the authors devastatingly expose the three
"studies" used to silence doubts about offshore outsourcing: the Global
Insight study (March 2004) for the Information Technology Association
of America, the Catherine Mann study (December 2003) for the Institute
for International Economics, and the McKinsey Global Institute study
(August 2003).
The ITAA,an outsourcing lobbying group, spun study results by
releasing only the executive summary to reporters who agreed not to
seek outside opinion before writing. The Mann study is "an unreasonably
optimistic forecast based on faulty logic and a poor understanding of
technology and strategy." The McKinsey report "should be viewed as a
self-interested lobbying document that presents an unrealistically
optimistic estimate of the impact of offshore outsourcing and an
undeveloped and politically unviable solution to the problems they
identify."
"Outsourcing America" is a powerful work. Only fools will still
cling to the premise outsourcing is good for America.
Paul Craig Roberts is a nationally syndicated columnist.
9. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/25/nscho125.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/04/25/ixnewstop.html
GCSE exam papers will be sent to India for marking
By Duncan Gardham and Liz Lightfoot
(Filed: 25/04/2005)
A major examination board is sending its GCSE papers to India for
marking.
AQA, one of the three main boards, is planning to have 500,000 papers
scanned and e-mailed 5,000 miles abroad.
The plans are part of a #2 million contract for History, French,
German and Italian papers to be marked in India, where examiners'
salaries are a fifth of those here.
It is claimed that there have already been problems with the first
batch.
A former employee at the company handling the process for AQA said
there have been delays in returning the papers, causing panic that the
system will collapse.
"If there are delays when we send out a few thousand papers what will
happen in the summer when half a million go out?"
AQA said the papers being sent were for the marking of one-word
answers. A spokesman added: "We are not aware of any problems with the
process and all papers have been returned on schedule."
Exam boards have found it increasingly difficult to recruit markers,
but John Dunford, the general secretary of the Secondary Heads
Association, said AQA's plan was a "desperate way to hold up a sinking
system".
He added: "The Government has rejected proposals to reform exams which
would have rescued the situation. Instead we are facing more years of
examination overload with all the marking problems that go with it."
Several industries have tried to farm out services to the cheap labour
markets of India, with mixed results.
Bank customers have complained that staff do not understand what they
are saying and an attempt to deal with medical notes led to one patient
being advised of a "Euston Tube malfunction".
AQA has also come in for criticism after allowing GCSE pupils to pass
their English literature exam without reading outside the 20th century.
William Golding's Lord of the Flies and the American author J D
Salinger's Catcher in the Rye are on a list of eight novels on the exam
paper, but Dickens, Austen and Charlotte Brontk are only options for
coursework - worth 10 per cent of the marks.
Anne Fine, a former children's laureate, accused the exam board of
dumbing down. She was backed by Michael Morpurgo, the current
children's laureate, who said: "The wider that young people read the
better. The list should include 20th century classics, but also 19th
century novels."
Julia Parry, the deputy head of English at St Martin-in-the-Fields High
School for Girls, London, said: "Withholding great writing from pupils
is impoverishing them."
Last week the National Association for the Teaching of English called
for a debate over whether English literature should be scrapped as a
separate A-level and incorporated with English which includes
literature alongside the study of language. It said students should
study literature in a wider context, including television drama, crime
fiction and romance.
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