Workers in America train their replacements from China !!!

[Mega]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...in-outsourcing
Mike

[Adeptus]

Re: Workers in America train their replacements from China !!!

This is not news, I think this has been going on for a few years. About 2 years ago, an extended family member who lives in India and works for Sungard (massive global IT company - part of Fortune 500), was flown to the USA for 1 month to be trained by his US counterparts so he could eventually do their job remotely from India. In the USA his job pays on average between $65,000 to $100,000 per year (experience and certifications counts for a lot). Sungard was paying him just under $12,000/yr for the same job at the time, though he was just fresh out of certification school with minimal experience in this area of IT.

The first question I asked him was, how well did they treat you? Were they ok with the process given they may lose their jobs down the road? Not sure why, but he didn't detect any hint of people being upset and in fact stated that everyone was very friendly and helpful. Of course this is anectdotal, I can imagine that the reality in most cases is quite the opposite. Possibly, with Sungard being such a huge company they could find jobs in other departments, but I'm not sure.

[kriden]

Re: Workers in America train their replacements from China !!!

I worked for an IT company that outsourced the call center to the Philippines, Data and Network Security to India. Most of the Applications Support went to India as well. There were numerous layoffs done in incremental stages as this was going on. The remaining staff that was training their replacements felt obligated to go along without friction or their eventual termination date would be accelerated forward.

[don]

Re: Workers in America train their replacements from China !!!

No sweat whatsoever for the global media to colonise . . .

Outsourced (2006)

U.S.-based Western Novelty decides to outsource it's personnel to India and as a result a large number of employees are let go. Before he himself is let go, Todd Anderson is instructed to travel to Gharapuri to train Purohit to replace him. He travels there via Mumbai, and finds his name comically mispronounced as 'Toad'. He finds that he must sensitize himself to the Indian culture before he could even think of Americanizing Purohit and his subordinates. With the assistance of the new Assistant Manager, Asha Bhatwadekar, he inter alia sets about learning about Devi Maa Kali, Bhagwan Shri Shankar, reveling in Holi festivities, common lingo, the importance of cows, and eating at Mac Donnel's. And he soon finds that a new 'India' has been discovered for outsourcing, and what is meant by 'Holiday in Goa'. Written by rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Seattle-based 'Western Novelty' kitsch sales firm outsources its call center to Bombay. Grudginly, US manager Todd Anderson travels there to train the Indian staff so it can continue under local manager Purohit 'Puro' N. Virajnarianan, who needs the job to raise his dream bride's dowry. Todd fears the quota aren't feasible. Yet he's doing a good job, thanks to mutual cultural exchanges and the idea to target sales on the far larger Indian market. Todd even starts a romantic affair with Puro's ambitious deputy, but she's promised to an Indian.

Outsourced was then spun into a TV series, with 22 episodes to date

[ProdigyofZen]

Re: Workers in America train their replacements from China !!!

Don, I actually watched this movie 3 weeks ago haha. It is funny that you bring it up.

At the end they wanted him to move to China to do the exact same thing at a Chinese office. The catch? He had to lay off all the Indians as they were being replaced with the Chinese!

The end highlights the absurdity of free flowing global capital. "Capital always finds the lowest cost of labor"

This occurs even in China where jobs are "outsourced" to cheaper inner China or Vietnam/Thailand.

Eventually the jobs will end up in sub-saharan Africa. Best to relocate their now or invest their now before the capital enters the market

[Mega]

Re: Workers in America train their replacements from China !!!

Now then.........am quite sure once the factory in the US has been removed, some helpful people from China will come over & show the ex employees how to work in a paddy field & grow RICE
;)
Mike

[GRG55]

Re: Workers in America train their replacements from China !!!

Now then.........am quite sure once the factory in the US has been removed, some helpful people from China will come over & show the ex employees how to work in a paddy field & grow RICE
;)
Mike

That's probably not a bad thing. Over the past decade the price of rice seems to have been going up. Unlike call center wages...

[touchring]

Re: Workers in America train their replacements from China !!!

Don, I actually watched this movie 3 weeks ago haha. It is funny that you bring it up.

At the end they wanted him to move to China to do the exact same thing at a Chinese office. The catch? He had to lay off all the Indians as they were being replaced with the Chinese!

The end highlights the absurdity of free flowing global capital. "Capital always finds the lowest cost of labor"

This occurs even in China where jobs are "outsourced" to cheaper inner China or Vietnam/Thailand.

Eventually the jobs will end up in sub-saharan Africa. Best to relocate their now or invest their now before the capital enters the market

The best application requires no support. Do you see iphone users require support?

Outsourcing to the cheapest place is already an outdated concept.

Where is iOS developed? Where is Windows Mobile developed? Why nobody uses Windows Mobile?

[don]

Re: Workers in America train their replacements from China !!!

in related labor news . . .

A recent article posted on gawker.com included the story of a 61-year-old woman who has been through hell and back during this economic downturn….

I sent out close to 500 resumes. Most never were even acknowledged and those that were I was told I was over qualified. When you would press them they would fumble but I was sure my age was part of the “over qualified”. The thoughts of wanting life to be over were with me every day. I wanted the horror to stop. Every time I would hear of the unemployment rates I would cry-what about ME.

At one point she was so desperate she took a job where she was making the decision about what dogs to slaughter at an animal shelter. Approximately 85 percent of the dogs at the shelter ended up being killed, and she was working about 80 hours a week doing this. The really sad part is that she really loves dogs….

In 2008 I was able to get a job at the local shelter as a dog trainer. That turned into a job as an Operations Manager. Though I was thankful for the job we had a euthanasia rate of nearly 85%. I was the one that would be the decision maker on who lives and dies of over 10,000 animals per year and the toll mentally was hard. Being salary I was working nearly 80 hours a week due to shorthanded staff.

After she was fired for not being aggressive enough in killing off dogs, she started endlessly sending out resumes once again. Nobody wants to hire her, and she essentially feels like an old lady begging for a job….

Since February I began sending out 3 resumes a day. As the no return answer, over qualified and now I was getting I was out of engineering too long I started to set my sights lower. I have sent in resumes to sit in the booth in gas stations, secretary and so on. Local colleges have said I am qualified to teach there but they have no openings. I am for all purposes the old lady begging for a job.




If you knew that your company was going to tear down your factory and send your job to China, would you personally train your replacement?

The shock of losing a precious job in a town afflicted by high unemployment is always hard. A foundation for a stable family life and secure home instantly disappears, replaced with a future filled with fears over health insurance, missed mortgage payments and the potential for a slip below the breadline.

But for Bonnie Borman – and 170 other men and women in Freeport, Illinois – there is a brutal twist to the torture. Borman, 52, and the other workers of a soon-to-be-shuttered car parts plant are personally training the Chinese workers who will replace them.

It’s a surreal experience, they say. For months they have watched their plant being dismantled and shipped to China, piece by piece, as they show teams of Chinese workers how to do the jobs they have dedicated their lives to.




The insanity has gotten to such a level that some Americans simply cannot take it anymore. Just consider the following example from a recent article by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele….

On his last day on the job, Kevin Flanagan, after clearing out a few personal effects and putting them in boxes in the back of his Ford Ranger, left the building where he’d worked for seven years.

He settled into the front seat of his pickup truck on the lower level of the company garage, placed a 12-gauge Remington shotgun to his head, and pulled the trigger. He was 41 years old.

He was a computer programmer. He’d been a programmer his entire working life. Until, that is, his job was shipped overseas. The business of moving traditional U.S. jobs abroad-called “outsourcing”-has been one of this country’s few growth industries. It’s the ultimate short-sighted business promoted by the country’s elite because it means lower wages and fatter profits. As for the American workers eliminated along the way, they are just collateral damage.

Kevin’s replacement was a programmer from India that he personally trained.




The following is a story from a desperate unemployed woman ….

I have been very depressed since I lost my job. I go through periods where I spend most of my days in bed, and although I’ve had a few interviews those people don’t even have the decency to let you know the position is filled. Sometimes I’d call for weeks asking for updates only to get the HR persons voicemail, and they’d never return my calls. With no experience I can’t even get a job waiting tables. I apply to every job in the paper and online, whether I’m qualified or not, and have had 7 interviews total, none of which ended with a job offer. Living paycheck to paycheck would be a blessing at this point.

The current ‘bright side’ is that I know someone who owns a small retail clothing chain and has offered me a minimum wage job there on the condition that we become ‘close friends’. I think you & I both know what that entails, but at this time in my life it seems like a better alternative than losing the little that I have. I’d have a paycheck equal to what I am getting on unemployment with the opportunity for overtime and advancements, full benefits and a schedule that would allow me to continue schooling.

[don]

Re: Workers in America train their replacements from China !!!

Screwing older workers - hiring cheaper, younger replacements, etc. - is nothing new. For at least a decade 50+ has been an engineer's danger zone - too much salary, too many benefits accrued.

Outsourcing is at least 40 years old. The accelerated pace and inclusion of areas dependent on the digital world are what's new, though an argument can be made that 70s outsourcing of heavy industry has killed the real economy at its tap root.

Young women working as 'exotic dancers' to put themselves through college is a cliche at least a half century old. Giving up sexual favors to work in a modest paying retail store - perhaps that was last seen in the 30s.

So what are the real major differences today?

[c1ue]

Re: Workers in America train their replacements from China !!!

Do you see iphone users require support?

'

Right, that's why every Apple store has a Genius bar.

Because iPhone users don't need any support.