I.B.M. Explores Shift of White-Collar Jobs Overseas

[rdove]

With American corporations under increasing pressure to cut costs and build global supply networks, two senior I.B.M. officials told their corporate colleagues around the world in a recorded conference call that I.B.M. needed to accelerate its efforts to move white-collar, often high-paying, jobs overseas even though that might create a backlash among politicians and its own employees.


During the call, I.B.M's top employee relations executives said that three million service jobs were expected to shift to foreign workers by 2015 and that I.B.M. should move some of its jobs now done in the United States, including software design jobs, to India and other countries.


"Our competitors are doing it and we have to do it," Tom Lynch, I.B.M.'s director for global employee relations, said in the call. A recording was provided to The New York Times recently by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, a Seattle-based group seeking to unionize high-technology workers. The group said it had received the recording which was made by I.B.M. and later placed in digital form on an internal company Web site from an I.B.M. employee upset about the plans.

Official Story Here

[rdove]

This is one issue that is starting to annoy me being a young american getting ready to graduate and find work in the IT industry. I don't have anything against foriegn workers, but I don't think american companies are quite realizing what the long-term effects of doing this are going to be...

If you ask me they are just trying to make a quick buck and they are going to end up screwing us and them in the future.

[Admin]

i agree 100%.

i dont like this one bit.

[npa]

Originally posted by rdove
If you ask me they are just trying to make a quick buck and they are going to end up screwing us and them in the future.

Business is business, they aren't trying to make
friends, its all about money.

They aren't really screwing themselves because the
people who buy their product but it, partly, because
it is cheaper than something else.

if their prices are higher, they won't sell anything.

Anyway, if the offshore people can programm better,
then why not let them have the job.

if they can't, then IBM will soon realise it and give the
jobs to good programmer's in USA.

[redhead]

It's the amarican way of life, (I thought you were used to it) earn as much as you can, any way you can. Screw moral or obligations to your fellow american. If a guy in India is just as skillful and want's to do the same job for half the pay.. More profit in the big back pockets of the investors, to hell with the American Joe down at the corner with his pricy MIT grad.

Dosn't this sound familiar to you ??

Btw. the same thing is happening in Denmark and all over Europe.

[Valmont]

Yep, the same thing happens in the Netherlands too.

Rdove is talking a lot of sense here, and I feel pity for him and his future colleages.

[rdove]

Originally posted by npa
Business is business, they aren't trying to make
friends, its all about money.

They aren't really screwing themselves because the
people who buy their product but it, partly, because
it is cheaper than something else.

if their prices are higher, they won't sell anything.

Anyway, if the offshore people can programm better,
then why not let them have the job.

if they can't, then IBM will soon realise it and give the
jobs to good programmer's in USA.

Sure they are screwing themselves...If you send the jobs overseas then the Americans who lost their job are not going to be buying things. So the more jobs you take away the less American people are going to be buying.

So who is going to buy their products? The countries they sent the jobs to? Since they decided to pay some guy in India $5,000 /year instead of the 60,000/year for the American they are going to be forced to lower their prices and that will start to affect their profits.

I don't quite see where companies are thinking this math is going to work....

[Valmont]

Moneymakers think like this:
"Tomorrow... we might be dead".

[npa]

Originally posted by rdove
Sure they are screwing themselves...If you send the jobs overseas then the Americans who lost their job are not going to be buying things. So the more jobs you take away the less American people are going to be buying.

the americans who lost there jobs don't matter (in the
nicest possible way).

in reality, they don't care about the business one graduate
programmer will have for them, or 10 for that matter.

they care about big contracts with other corporates, who
will appreciate their lower costs.

sure it sucks for the people who lose their jobs, but thats
business for you

[idx]

...and with stupid companies (like the one I work for) paying 170K for an overpowered server, they should be just fine..........