Think Globally?
by Robert UnderwoodLink to article
My education is in science and computer technology. I have a BA ( 1971) in Chemistry, and training in several computer languages. I have been a computer programmer analyst for about 25 years, mostly in the turbine engine business. I also speak, read, and write Spanish and French, and a little Greek.
The aircraft industry was in a slump in 2001. Software was also being outsourced to India and Pakistan. During those 25 years my hearing deteriorated also to about 3% of normal hearing. Then in December of 2001 my aorta burst resulting in surgery, and recuperation. I went back to work in February of 2002, and was laid off in about a month. We were told to think “globally.” I pointed out that I could conduct business in Spanish and French, and could easily learn Portuguese and Italian if I needed it. I was told that the speech referred to “off shore locations,” that means cheap labor countries that Americans were asked to donate to in the form of charities. We were also told that there was no point in applying for SAP training because Americans were not going to be assigned to the job anyway.
Then 9-11 hurt the aircraft industry, and made the business of software support for it worse. I must use a TTY relay service for the phone, and potential employers simply do not return the calls. The ads I see are an example of what Mr. Cohen is talking about, no one would ever meet all of that criteria. There is always some minor reason why I do not qualify for the position.
Tags: outsourcing, SAP-training
July 26th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
I am sympathetic to your situation. We are all in the same boat. We need to organize! I have talked to people who were told to learn another language in order to add to their possibilities for jobs, and when they did, their new language skills didn’t add anything to their possibilities. I believe every word you wrote.
I am working with some people at http://www.brightfuturejobs.org who are based in Chicago, and are responsible for the new legislation drafted in the senate by Dick Durbin and Charles Grassley. Most of the Chicago people are tech professionals who are also having a difficult time pasting a life together. While researching, they discovered that the law doesn’t require American employers to consider local talent. In other words, “AMERICANS NEED NOT APPLY.” The legislation was written after the group showed Dick Durbin the law, as it is written.
Do you know who Stanley Aronowitz is? He has been organizing for decades, and he believes that we need to organize. His book, published in 2001, is titled: THE LAST GOOD JOB IN AMERICA: WORK AND EDUCATION IN THE NEW GLOBAL TECHNOCULTURE. The other day, I saw him on one of our Manhattan Access cable channels, in discussion and debate with Laura Flanders. I plan to contact him to see what I can do. I can’t sit still and wait for people to act, my situation is too dire for that. Soon, I will be sitting out on the curb in Manhattan.