Archives

16 December 2003

We don't think of it as one shore or another shore

Says James Sciales, IBM spokesman, regarding reports that IBM plans to move nearly 5,000 jobs offshore to India and China.
A number of Boulder IBM employees could be training their foreign replacements soon if IBM goes forward with a plan to move thousands of jobs to India and China.

The company reportedly is moving up to 4,700 application management services jobs offshore starting next year, according to documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

"We have been in India since 1951 and China since 1979," said James Sciales, spokesman for IBM. "Most of our revenue doesn't come from the U.S. We don't think of it as one shore or another shore. We're a global company."

Perhaps they should stop billing themselves as an American company then and recharter in a foreign locale. And give up the advantages, blessings, and protections that flow to American business entity.

In a related story, the state of Washington outsources its IT work to India, and compels its employees to train their less expensive foreign replacements. A scenario that is playing out all over the U.S. in these times. Not a good time to be a computer programmer working for employee wages...

Also, check out Rescue American Jobs for more articles on Information Technology importing of guest visa workers, offshoring, and outsourcing. And read the stories of others displaced, like me, were mandated to train their foreign replacements before they were cut loose from their IT positions.